International cruise operators have evinced interest to explore ‘Ganga Vilas’-type cruises along the rivers Ganga and Brahmaputra. Talks are on and these cruises could be in the uber-luxury or luxury category, said Minister for Ports, Shipping and Waterways, Sarbananda Sonowal.
According to him, while global players are eyeing coastal cruise options as well, there has been a revival of interest from small cruise operators and regional players, too, with ship-repair facilities coming up in Assam.
“The MV Ganga Vilas will culminate its journey (started from Varanasi on January 13) on February 28 at Dibrugarh. We have successfully operated the cruise. The vessel was neither stuck nor did we face draft or navigability issues anywhere. Many international players have now started evinced interest to carry out similar cruises,” he told businessline in an interview.
The cruise will have covered a distance of 3,200 km and included destinations like Patna Sahib, Bodh Gaya, Vikramshila, Dhaka, the Sunderbans and the Kaziranga National Park.
“At a cruise conference in Mumbai, several global players took part, made commitments and signed MoUs with us. We are following that up. Coastal cruise and river cruise are some of the key growth drivers across developed nations,” Sonowal said.
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New parameters
The Ganga Vilas has put India (and Bangladesh) on the river cruise map of the world, and has opened “new horizons and verticals” for tourism as well as freight carriage movement, said the Minister.
“Continuous monitoring and maintenance of the draft is being carried out. And post the successful completion of this cruise, inland waterways will play a more important role than ever,” he said.
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Several vessels are expected to commence operations along the National Waterways — especially on NW1 (1,620-km long Ganga-Bhagirathi-Hooghly river system between Haldia and Prayagraj), and NW2 (891-km long Brahmaputra river between Sadiya and the Bangladesh border). These waterways also provide hinterland connectivity in Assam, Nagaland, Tripura, Manipur, Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh and link them with the sea ports of Kolkata and Haldia through the Indo-Bangladesh protocol route.
The Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) has completed many infrastructure development projects, too, fairways, terminals and navigation aids in the North-East some of them are under progress. “The Jalmarg Vikas projects along the Ganga and Brahmaputra have helped develop infrastructure... investments in the national waterways are expected to be close to ₹7,000 crore,” Sonowal said.
According to an internal study by the IWAI in 2017, close to 49 million tonnes of cargo moves in and out of the North-East a year and 30 mt of cargo moves within the region.