• Investment World
• eWorld
• Brand Line
• Mentor
• Life
• Brand Quest
• The New Manager
• BL Club
• Smartbuy

Stocks

• Quotes
• SE Diary
• Scoreboard
• Open-End Mutual Fund

Cross Currency

• Rates
  
  

Shipping

• Ports
  
  

Archives

• Yesterday
• Datewise
• Resources
• In Focus
• In Depth
• Events 2007

Group Sites

• The Hindu
• The Hindu ePaper
• Business Line
• Business Line ePaper
• Sportstar
• Frontline
• The Hindu eBooks
• The Hindu Images

G.K. Nair

Kochi, Oct. 1 The World Bank-assisted Rs 61-crore inland water transport development project started about five years ago appears to have been abandoned halfway.

The Government had in 2003 launched the Kerala State Transport Project to develop and renovate the routes Kottayam-Alappuzha (23 km), Kottayam-Vaikom (38 km) and Alappuzha–Changanacherry via Kavalam (27 km) with World Bank assistance.

Development of these waterways was found to be vital in view of their environment-friendliness and cost advantages, especially for transporting cargo, Father Thomas Peelianickal told Business Line.

Apart from this, the canals would help boost tourism as visitors from outside the State and overseas would be attracted to travel via the verdant canals and rivers of Kuttanad. This cheap transport facility will facilitate transportation of agricultural produce of farmers living on the banks of the canals to Alappuzha, Kottayam and Changacherry markets, he pointed out.

The major causes for the decline in water transport on these routes, which was the only mode of transport in Kuttanad region, are the drop in the draft of the rivers and canals due to silting, caving in of the embankments, weeds covering water surface, low-elevation bridges and the absence of proper jetties, among others, he said.

The increased availability of faster, but costlier, modes such as roads and rail has also contributed to a substantial drop in the use of this cheap mode of transportation, official sources pointed out.

Given this situation, the project was launched to remove the obstacles apart from widening the waterway to 17.5 m and ensuring the draft is not less than 2.2 m.

More Stories on : Shipping/Ports | Kerala

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page

Copyright © 2008, The Hindu Business Line. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu Business Line