Developing Inland Waterways
The Minister of State for Shipping, Shri Mukul Roy informed the Lok Sabha today in a written reply to a question that the following five waterways have so far been declared as National Waterways (NWs):
1. Ganga –Bhagirathi- Hooghly river system (Allahabad-Haldia-1620 km)-NW-1, declared in 1986.
2. River Brahmaputra (Dhubri – Sadiya -891 Km) –NW-2 declared in 1988.
3. West Coast Canal (Kottapuram – Kollam) along with Udyogmandal and Champakara Canals– (205 km) – NW-3 declared in 1993.
4. Kakinada-Puducherry canals along with Godavari and Krishna rivers (1078 km)-NW-4 declared in 2008.
5. East Coast Canal integrated with Brahmani river and Mahanadi delta rivers (588 km) – NW-5 declared in 2008.
The Minister further stated that out of the above mentioned five NWs, basic inland water transport related infrastructure has been provided on NW-1, 2 and 3. This includes navigational channel with least available depth in different stretches depending upon their hydro-morphological characteristics, a number of fixed and floating terminals and navigational aids (including aids for 24 hours navigation in most of their lengths). These infrastructural facilities are being maintained/further developed on year to year basis depending upon available resources. But due to non availability of funds during the 11th Plan no development could be started on NW-4 and NW-5 and Planning Commission has now advised to develop commercially viable stretches of NW-4 and 5 under Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode with Viability Gap Funding (VGF), he further added.
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