The Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) is exploring various funding options to take up development work of inland waterways once Parliament passes the Inland Waterways Bill.
“As a part of taking on preparatory work, one of the options of government funding that IWAI is talking about includes accessing funds from multilateral institutions, such as Asian Development Bank, World Bank and BRICS; and accordingly structure projects. The preparatory work also includes doing the project preparation, project reports, environment clearance,” Amitabh Verma, Chairman, Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI), said at an even organised by industry chamber PHDCCI here.
The option of a consortium of leading financial institutions — both domestic and overseas — is being conceived to part finance close to 101 inland waterways to facilitate faster and economic cargo movement across India, a PHDCCI release said.
IWAI is undertaking preparatory work, such as appointing consultants for pre-feasibility and detailed project reports for the 101 inland waterways proposed to be developed in the Bill. Government funding can be done either through budgetary support, multilateral funding or market borrowings. Another option is to work out ways to access investment on a public-private partnership basis.