National Waterways recorded cargo movement of over 72 MT this fiscal: Mandaviya
Published: Jul 18, 2019
By TIOLCORPLAWS News Service
NEW DELHI, JULY 18, 2019: THE Minister of State for Shipping (I/C) and Chemical & Fertilizers Mr Mansukh Mandaviya, today in Parliament gave detailed information on the status of development of Inland Waterways in the country and the growth of cargo transportation on these waterways. He informed that the transportation of cargo on National Waterways has increased from 2016-17 onwards, when new NWs were declared under the National Waterways Act, 2016. The growth trend over the last five years and the current year was as follows:
Year |
2014-15 |
2015-16 |
2016-17 |
2017-18 |
2018-19 |
2019-20 |
Cargo transported on NWs (In Million Tonnes) |
6.59 |
8.14 |
55.47 |
55.03 |
72.31 |
14.59 |
In reply to another question Mr Mandaviya informed that 13 NW are operational with vessels plying on them. These include National Waterway-1 (NW-1) (Ganga – Bhagirathi - Hooghly river system from Allahabad to Haldia), NW-2 (River Brahmaputra from Dhubri to Sadiya), NW -3 (West Coast Canal from Kottapuram to Kollam along with Udyogmandal and Champakara Canals) have already been developed with fairway, navigational aids, jetties and terminals with mechanized equipment handling facilities for loading and unloading of cargo. These waterways including NW-10 (river Amba), NW-27 (Cumberjua), NW-68 (river Mandovi), NW-73 (river Narmada), NW-83 (Rajpuri Creek), NW-85 ( Revadanda Creek - Kundalika River System ), NW-91 ( Shastri river–Jaigad creek system), NW-97 (Sunderbans Waterways), NW-100 (river Tapi) and NW-111 (river Zuari)
The Jal Marg Vikas Project (JMVP) for capacity augmentation of navigation on the Haldia-Varanasi stretch of National Waterway-1 (Ganga) is being implemented at an estimated cost of Rs 5369.18 crore with technical and financial assistance of the World Bank. Projects worth Rs 1800 crore (approx.) have commenced on ground in a time period of three years after statutory clearances.In NW-4 on the Vijayawada – Muktyala stretch of river Krishna, fairway development works and construction of terminals are in progress at a cost of Rs 96 crore.