Inland waterways of India

Inland Water Ways of India

India has an extensive network of inland waterways in the form of rivers, canals, backwaters and creeks. The total navigable length is 14,500 km (9,000 mi), out of which about 5,200 km (3,200 mi) of the river and 4,000 km (2,500 mi) of canals can be used by mechanized crafts. Freight transportation by waterways is highly under-utilized in India compared to other large countries and geographic areas like the United States, China and the European Union. The total cargo moved (in tonne kilometers) by the inland waterway was just 0.1% of the total inland traffic in India, compared to the 21% figure for United States. Cargo transportation in an organised manner is confined to a few waterways in Goa, West Bengal, Assam ,and Kerala.

Cost of water transportation in India is barely 50 paise (0.74¢ US) a kilometer, as compared to ₹1 (1.5¢ US) by railways and ₹1.5 (2.2¢ US) by roads.[1] Hence water transportation is receiving significant attention in recent times since logistics cost in India is one of the highest among major countries - it is 18% in India versus 8-10% in China and 10-12% in European Union.[2] Inland waterways in India consist of the Ganges (Ganga)–Bhagirathi–Hooghly rivers, the Brahmaputra, the Barak river, the rivers in Goa, the backwaters in Kerala, inland waters in Mumbai and the deltaic regions of the Godavari - Krishna rivers. About 44 million tones of cargo is moved annually through these waterways using mechanized vessels and country boats.[3]

List

Buckingham Canal in Andhra Pradesh


Name Details Length Declared on Status
National Waterway 1 Allahabad–Haldia stretch of the Ganges–Bhagirathi–Hooghly river[4] 1,620 km (1,010 mi) 1986 operational[5]
National Waterway 2 Sadiya–Dhubri stretch of the Brahmaputra river 891 km (554 mi) 1988 operational[5]
National Waterway 3 Kollam-Kozhikode stretch of West Coast Canal and Champakara and Udyogamandal Canals[5] 365 km (227 mi)[5] 1993 operational[5]
National Waterway 4 Kakinada–Pondicherry stretch of canals and Kaluvelly tank, Bhadrachalam–Rajahmundry stretch of River Godavari and Wazirabad–Vijayawada stretch of River Krishna 1,095 km (680 mi) 2008 declared
National Waterway 5 Talcher–Dhamra stretch of rivers, Geonkhali–Charbatia stretch of East Coast Canal, Charbatia–Dhamra stretch of Matai river and Mahanadi delta rivers 620 km (390 mi) 2008 declared
National Waterway 8 Alappuzha-Changanassery Canal[5] 28 km (17 mi)[5] 2016[5] notified[5]
National Waterway 9 Alappuzha-Kottayam-Athirampuzha Canal[5] 38 km (24 mi)[5] 2016[5] notified[5]
National Waterway 16 Lakhipur-Bhanga stretch of the Barak River will result in unified development of the waterways for shipping and navigation and transportation of cargo to the North Eastern Region particularly in the states of Assam, Nagaland, Mizoram, Manipur, Tripura and Arunachal Pradesh 121 km (75 mi) January 2013[6] declared
National Waterway 59 Kottayam-Vaikom Canal[5] 28 km (17 mi)[5] 2016[5] notified[5]

Participation of Government Agencies, Public & Private Sector Enterprises in IWT/NW development

Participation of Government Agencies, Public & Private Sector Enterprises in IWT/NW development
Vessels / Terminals Construction, Operation & Maintenance Government Agencies Public Sector Enterprises Private Sector Enterprises
Waterway Constructing of waterway IWAI CIWTC in Sundarbans -
Waterway Maintenance of Waterway IWAI Subcontracted Dredging Subcontracted Dredging
Waterway Navigational Support IWAI Ports, near port areas GPS suppliers (KPT, Port of Panaji) -
Carriers
(Vessels) 		Vessel Manufacturing - CIWTC, Hooghly Docks, Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers (GRSE) Several
Carriers
(Vessels) 		Vessel ownership IWAI CIWTC/KSINCL and others Several
Carriers
(Vessels) 		Vessel maintenance/repair - CIWTC/KSINCL and others Several
Carriers
(Vessels) 		Vessel Operation - CIWTC/KSINCL and others Several
Terminals
(Jetties) 		Terminal construction IWAI and State Government Mormugao Port Trust, CIWTC Several
Terminals
(Jetties) 		Terminal operation - Mormugao Port Trust Several

IWAI - Inland Waterways Authority of India CIWTC - Central Inland Water Transport Corporation KSINCL- Kerala State Inland Navigation Company Limited

References

  1. ↑ "Maruti Suzuki planning to transport vehicles via inland waterways". news. Economic Times. 25 July 2016. Retrieved 25 July 2016.
  2. ↑ PTI (12 August 2016). "Government to spend Rs 50,000 crore on river front development: Nitin Gadkari". news. The Economic Times. Retrieved 12 August 2016.
  3. ↑ INTRODUCTION TO INLAND WATER TRANSPORT
  4. ↑ "Maruti Suzuki to start transporting through national waterways No 1", The Economic Times, 9 August 2016
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 "Four National Waterways for State notified", The Hindu, 26 July 2016
  6. ↑ Press Information Bureau Of India

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 10/10/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.