(a) whether the Government aims to complete the Buckingham canal project to make it freight canal between Kakinada and Pondicherry;
(b) if so, the details along with the present status thereof;
(c) whether any time frame has been fixed to complete the project; and
(d) the details of the budget allocated and amount released so far, year-wise?
(a) & (b) No, Sir. Kakinada-Puducherry canal consisting of Kakinada canal (Kakinada to Rajahmundry-50 km), Eluru canal (Rajahmundry to Vijaywada- 139 km), Commamur canal (Vijaywada to Peddaganjam- 113 km), North Buckingham canal (Peddaganjam to Central Station of Chennai-316 km) and South Buckingham canal (Central Station of Chennai to Marakanam-110 km) and Kaluvelly Tank (Marakanam to Puducherry-22 km) for a length of 750 km was declared as a part of National Waterway- 4 in 2008. A Detailed Project Report (DPR) was completed in March, 2010 and the details are at Annex-I. The DPR concluded that Inland Water Transport development in Buckingham canal is not feasible.
Also, in view of development of road and rail network parallel to the Buckingham canal which is in the vicinity of East Coast, Buckingham canal was not found techno-economically feasible for the purpose of navigation.
(c) & (d) Questions do not arise in view of the reply to (a) & (b) above.
Annex-I
Status of Buckingham Canal as a part of National Waterway-4
Detailed Project Report (DPR) for development of navigation in Kakinada – Puducherry canal along with river Godavari and Krishna of entire NW-4 was completed in March, 2010. As per DPR, Buckingham canal consist of two stretches:-
1. North Buckingham canal (Pedaganjam to Central Station of Chennai) - 316 km and
2. South Buckingham canal (Central Station of Chennai to Marakanam) -110 km
Both the above stretches of Buckingham canal are tidal canals and remain dry during non-monsoon periods. 50 km stretch connecting North and South Buckingham canals in Chennai city is totally in abandoned condition and Tamil Nadu Govt. has allowed Mass Rapid Transport System (MRTS), to construct Elevated Railway Stations right over the canal and columns of MRTS flyover bridges are within the canal bed itself and in certain places, the pedestal foundation of column is exposed above the canal bed. Therefore, there is no navigation possible in the Chennai stretch and DPR recommends not to take up this stretch for IWT development. The remaining stretches of Buckingham canal has a total of 52 nos. bridges out of which 28 nos. of bridges are to be modified or reconstructed to provide desired horizontal and vertical clearances to allow passage of design size of inland vessel. The survey of the canal indicated that the canals have been silted at many places and embankments on either bank of some portions also levelled and there are defunct lock structures and many portions of the canal are subjected to encroachments.
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