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Yamuna, Kaveri and Narmada Rivers have one thing in common. Despite being among the long rivers, these are yet to be used as waterways for transporting goods. But this situation is likely to change soon.
The Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) is writing letters to all State governments urging them to develop state waterways on rivers in their respective states. “We have to sensitise them about transport possibilities. They need to ensure that these rivers are developed for navigation possibilities. They will also have to ensure that any construction over rivers does not obstruct movement of transport vehicles,” the Chairman of the Authority, Amitabh Verma, told Business Line .
The Authority has plans to invest Rs 18,000 crore on waterways in the next eight years. This could attract private investments up to Rs 70,000 crore, it hopes. Private players can invest in building jetty, loading-unloading and linkage to ports.
This move comes at a time when NTPC Ltd, the largest power producer of the country, has started using inland waterways to transport coal to its Farakka power station in West Bengal. Soon, it will use the same medium to carry imported coal to another power plant at Barh in Bihar.
This medium is also expected to be used by the fertiliser cooperative, IFFCO, for moving fertiliser to other states from its Phoolpur Plant in Uttar Pradesh. In fact, IFFCO used waterways to carry machinery to this plant.
Waterways have a number of advantages and also save costs. There is an estimated saving of about $5 a tonne (around Rs 300) on transporting goods through waterways. Also, there is no scope for pilferage. Moreover, it is environment-friendly compared with roads.
The plan is to develop state waterways on the line of state highways. This will be commercially more successful, if the states also develop industrial hubs on the bank of rivers, Verma said.
Since river water is a state subject, IWAI is writing to them and is ready to provide consultancy services for developing waterways, he said. States will also be required to set up a directorate, even a small one. They will have to invest very little, as most of the infrastructure can be provided by private parties.
Dredging
States will also have to maintain the waterways by dredging slits so that there can be proper depth for a ship to move. A 2,000-tonne barrage needs 2.5-metre depth to move properly, which, for 1,000 tonnes, should be 1.5 metres deep.
At present, the Authority has declared five waterways as national and is in the process to declare the sixth one. However, only three of these waterways are currently being used. One of these three makes transportation of goods possible between Haldia and Farraka in West Bengal and between Haldia and Patna and then to Allahabad.
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