As
per report of Sub Group VIII (Inland Water Transport) of the Working Group on
Ports and Shipping under the National Transport Development Policy Committee
(NTDPC), the proportionate share of cargo transportation through different
modes in the country is as below:
Road: 60%
Railway:
25%
Oil and Gas Pipelines:
6 %
Coastal Shipping:
6 %
Other modes such as like ropeways
etc: 2.6%
Inland Water Transport: 0.4%
Total: 100%
The
Government has taken the following steps for promotion of transportation
through coastal shipping and national waterways:
Coastal
Shipping
i)
Moderating the manning and technical requirements for vessels operating
within Indian territorial waters through a River Sea Vessel notification.
ii) Declaring the inland vessel limits for facilitating coastal trade
operations.
iii) Issuing coastal shipping rules for coastal vessels operating within 20
miles off the coast.
iv) Exempting Customs and Central Excise duty on bunker fuels (IFO 180 and IFO
380 CST) by Indian flagged coastal container vessels.
v) Bringing abatement of service tax at 70% for coastal shipping at par with
road and rail.
vi) Simplification of customs procedures.
vii) Cabotage relaxation for specialised vessel and increase in discount by
major port in port charges from 40% to 80% for two years w.e.f. 02/09/2016.
National
Waterways
i)
The
Government has declared 111 National Waterways (NWs), which includes five
National Waterways declared earlier, under the
National Waterways Act, 2016.
ii) National Waterway -1
(Ganga-Bhagirathi-Hooghly river system from Allahabad to Haldia), National
Waterway – 2 (River Brahmaputra from Dhubri to Sadiya) and National Waterway-3
(West Coast Canal from Kottapuram to Kollam along with Udyogmandal and
Champakara Canals) have been developed with fairway, navigational aids,
jetties and terminals with mechanized equipment handling facilities for loading
and unloading of cargo. These waterways are operational and vessels are plying
on these NWs.
iii). The Jal Marg
Vikas project for capacity augmentation of NW-1 from Haldia to Varanasi is
being implemented, with the technical and financial support of the World Bank.
The project envisages various sub-projects such as fairway development,
navigational aids, construction of multi-modal terminals at Varanasi, Sahibganj
and Haldia, construction of new navigational lock at Farakka, bank protection
work, movement of LNG vessels, LNG bunkering facilities etc. Loan negotiations
for the project have been concluded recently.
iv) National
Waterway-4 (Kakinada- Puducherry canals along with Godavari to Krishna rivers)
:
On the stretch between Muktyala to Vijayawada of NW – 4 dredging works to
remove shallow patches has been awarded.
v) National Waterway -5 (East Coast
Canal integrated with Brahmani river and Mahanadi delta rivers):
The
dredging operation in the non-tidal stretch between Erada to Padanipal has
commenced. Lease agreement has been signed for 6.79 acres of land for setting
up of temporary terminal facility at Erada. Scheme for developing the terminal
with floating pontoon equipped with suitable cranes alongwith associated civil
engineering work has been sanctioned and work for construction of pontoon with
gangway has been awarded.
vi) National
Waterway -16 (River Barak): Lakhipur - Bhanga stretch of river
Barak (121 Km) has been declared as National Waterway -16. The development of
this waterway is proposed in two stages. The stretch from Silchar to Bhanga
(71km) is proposed under Phase - I and the remaining stretch from Silchar to
Lakhipur (50km) in Phase II. Work orders for development of fairway and for
providing navigational aids in the stretch between Silchar – Bhanga have been
awarded.
vii) Detailed project report for
development of Kosi (NW-58), Gandak (NW-37), Ghaghra
(NW-40), Mandovi (NW -68), Zuari
(NW -111), and Cumberjua (NW-27) have been prepared.
The total freight transported through
Coastal Shipping in the country during the last three years is as follows.
(in million tonnes)
|
2013-14
|
2014-15
|
2015-16
(P)
|
Major Port
|
114.66
|
119.48
|
125.259
|
Minor Port
|
46.70
|
53.19
|
53.661
|
Total
|
161.36
|
172.67
|
178.920
|
The cargo
movement on National Waterways including Goa and Maharashtra waterways is as follows:
(in million tonnes)
|
2013-14
|
2014-15
|
2015-16
(P)
|
Total
|
32.26
|
36.54
|
42.66
|
This information was given by the Minister of State for Shipping
Shri Pon.
Radhakrishnan in a written reply to a question in Lok
Sabha today.
…
UM/NP/MS