The Hindu Business Line : The potential of inland waterways

Not only are they the lifeline for the people who live along the backwaters, they are also the focal point for the thriving tourism industry that has grown up by utilising the natural charms offered by Kerala's inland waterway system.

Once, the inland waterways were the mainstay of trade as well, with kettuvallams laden with rice and other goods traversing the stretches of backwaters, especially in the Kuttanad area, then the rich rice bowl of Kerala.

Today the inland waterway system is in a state of disuse and neglect. This is a pity as a recent study by the Thiruvananthapuram-based National Transportation Planning and Research Centre (NATPAC) says that Kerala's inland waterways have the potential to be a low-cost transport option for the State as well as a major source of employment.

Officially, the inland waterways in Kerala stretch to a length of 1,687 km, corresponding to 11.6 percentage of a total of 14,544 km in the country. The major stretch is the West Coast Canal connecting Hosdurg in the north and Poovar, near Thrivananthapuram in the south, which has a length of 560 km.

However, the NATPAC study says Kerala has over 1,800 km of navigable stretches. The sector directly employs between 1.5 lakh and 2 lakh people in the operation and maintenance of boats, and for each person directly employed, at least two others are indirectly employed in allied activities such as boat building, servicing of boats, tourism and so on, the study adds.

At present, Kerala's inland water transport sector handles only 1.4 per cent of the total goods traffic and 1.65 per cent of the passenger traffic in the State. The NATPAC study found that passenger boats operated in Alappuzha by the State Water Transport Department on an average generated 873.45 man-days per lakh of rupees invested, while passenger boats operated by the Kerala State Inland Navigation Corporation (KSINC) generated 566.6 man-days per lakh of rupees invested. KSINC's cargo boats generated 437 man-days per lakh of rupees invested.

The private sector is fast catching up. According to the study, private boat operators generated 250 man-days per lakh of rupees invested for their passenger boat operations, while their cargo boats generated 490 man-days per lakh of rupees invested.

The operators of private boats, including houseboats, generated 17 lakh man-days in the last year, the study adds. Another 1.5 lakh man-days of employment were generated last year by boat manufacturers, with 311 many-days of employment per lakh of rupees invested, the study adds. Despite these seemingly healthy figures, all is not well with the inland waterways sector. The full potential for movement of people and goods has not been utilised. Several bottlenecks exist, including the lack of depth, the absence of any maintenance of navigation system, poor protection for the banks of the waterways, the use of outdated crafts and the uncontrolled and wanton growth of water hyacinth.

There are also other infrastructural constraints like the absence of navigational aids, and the lack of modern inland craft terminals and cargo handling facilities.

The State government is doing something to alleviate matters, including developing 93 km of three stretches of canals with the assistance of the World Bank under the Kerala State Transport Project. However, clearly, this is not enough, and Kerala would do well to concentrate more on its inland waterways.

The writer can be contacted at kgkumar@gmail.com

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