Significant progress has been made in freight transportation through inland waterways during the last ten years. Cargo movement on National Waterways has increased from 18.10 million ton in 2013-14 to 133.03 million ton in 2023-24, at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 22.1%. The number of operational National Waterways has increased from five (5) in 2014 to twenty six (26) in 2024.

The steps taken to enhance inland waterway connectivity in the country for facilitating faster movement of goods are at Annexure-1.

Annexure-1

Steps taken by the Government to enhance inland waterway connectivity in the country for facilitating faster movement of goods are:

(a) Infrastructure Development:

(i) On NW-1 (River Ganga): 49 community jetties, 20 floating terminals, 3 Multi-Modal Terminals (MMTs) and 1 Inter-Modal Terminal (IMT) have been constructed.

(ii) On NW-2 (River Brahmaputra): 12 floating terminals, 2 MMTs at Pandu, Jogighopa and 2 terminals at Bogibeel and Dhubri. 4 dedicated Jetties at Jogighopa, Pandu, Biswanath Ghat and Neamati. In addition to this, Jetties for cruise and passengers have been constructed at Sadiya, Lyka and OriumGhat in Assam.

(iii) On NW-3 (West Coast Canal in Kerala): 9 Permanent Inland Water Transport (IWT) terminals with godowns and 2 Ro-Ro/Ro-Pax terminals have been constructed.

(iv) 3 floating concrete jetties were provided to Government of Goa in 2020 and 01 in 2022 and installed in Mandovi River (NW-68).

(v) 4 Tourist Jetties on part of NW-4 (River Krishna) in Andhra Pradesh have been commissioned and construction work initiated for 12 floating jetties on NW-110 (River Yamuna) in Mathura-Vrindavan stretch in Uttar Pradesh, 2 Jetties on NW-73 (River Narmada) and 2 Jetties on NW-37 (River Gandak) in Bihar.

(vi) Fairway maintenance works (river training, maintenance dredging, channel marking and regular hydrographic surveys) are taken up in various National Waterways (NWs) for providing a navigation channel of 35/45 m width and 2.0 / 2.2 / 2.5 / 3.0 m least available depth (LAD) for operation of vessels

(b) Policy Measures:

• Cargo Promotion Scheme: A scheme for providing 35% incentive to promote the utilization of inland waterways transport sector by cargo owners and for establishing scheduled service for cargo movement on NW-1 and NW-2 and NW-16 via Indo Bangladesh Protocol has been approved by the Government. This scheme aims to divert 800 million tonne Km cargo on IWT mode, which is nearly 17% of the current cargo of 4700 million tonne Km on NWs. The scheme also aims to start a scheduled waterway cargo service between Kolkata and Varanasi/Pandu using IWAI vessels through Shipping Corporation of India for demonstration effect and to increase trust of cargo movers/owners in the waterway movement.

• Shift of cargo by PSUs: For modal shift of cargo to waterways, more than PSUs have been approached with the respect to move their cargo using IWT mode. The Ministry of PNG, Co-operation/ Fertiliser, Food and Public Distribution, Heavy Industries, Steel and Coal have been requested to advise the PSUs under their jurisdiction to utilise IWT mode as far as possible and earmark certain percentage of their cargo for IWT mode keeping in line the MIV targets.

• Integration with Ports: World over, waterways are most optimally utilised if they are linked to ports. Kolkata port offers an opportunity of seamless integration with NW1 and can also help in resolving the problem of multi modality. Therefore, Syama Prasad Mookherjee Port, Kolkata has been requested for operation and management of Multi Modal Terminals at Varanasi, Sahibganj, Haldia and Intermodal terminal at Kalughat along with other terminals on NW-1.

• Cargo Aggregation: The cargo movement on the waterways suffer from problems of multimodality because of lack of industries along the waterways. Therefore, projects for development of cargo aggregation hub – Freight Village at Varanasi and Integrated Cluster- cum-Logistics Park, Sahibganj have been taken up. NHLML, a PSU under the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has been engaged for development of these MMLPs. The work of Rail connectivity for three MMTs has been assigned to M/s Indian Port and Rail Company Ltd. (A PSU under MoPSW).

• River Cruise Tourism: To promote river cruise tourism, number of meetings with cruise operators have been organised. Based on their feedback, steps like provision of shore power at IWAI terminals, extra berthing arrangements, etc. have been made. New cruise circuits have been identified and are being operationalised. A total of 34 Waterways have been identified for cruise movement and 10 have already been operationalised.

• IBP Route: Indo Bangladesh Protocol route no. 5 and 6 between Maia and Sultanganj has been operationalized recently with successful trial movements.

This information was given by the The Union Minister of Ports, Shipping & Waterways, Shri Sarbananda Sonowal in a written reply in Rajya Sabha today.

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DS/AK

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