MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF SHIPPING
(SHRI PON. RADHAKRISHNAN)
(a)&(b):Yes, Madam. The potential of the Inland Water Transport sector has not been fully realised. The investment made for this sector was also negligible vis-à-vis expenditure incurred in the road / rail networks. Only Waterways which are declared as National Waterways (NWs) come in the purview of Union Government for development for navigable purposes. The Union Government has so far declared following five waterways as National Waterways (NWs).
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(i) Ganga-Bhagirathi-Hooghly river system (Allahabad-Haldia-1620 km)
(ii) River Brahmaputra (Dhubri-Sadiya – 891 km).
(iii) West Coast Canal (Kottapuram-Kollam) along with Udyogmandal and Champakara Canals – (205 km).
(iv) Kakinada- Puducherry canals along with Godavari and Krishna rivers (1078 km).
(v) East Coast Canal integrated with Brahmani river and Mahanadi delta rivers (588 km).
The cargo moved on National Waterways – 1, 2 & 3 in the last three years and the current year till July, 2015 is enclosed as Annex -1.
(c)&(d):Yes, Madam. The following steps have been taken by the Government to encourage growth in the transport of goods through coastal shipping and inland waterways;
(i) A River-Sea Vessels (RSV) Notification for moderating the technical and manning requirement for vessels operating within the Indian territorial waters was issued by the Directorate General of Shipping on 31st July, 2013.
(ii) Directorate General of Shipping has issued an order declaring the Inland Vessel (I V) limits for facilitating coastal trade operations.
(iii) Coastal Shipping Rules for coastal vessels operating within 20 miles off the coast have been issued by the Directorate General of Shipping on 04th March, 2014.
(iv) All major ports have been advised to introduce Green Channel for coastal cargo, Priority berthing for coastal vessels and construction of exclusive coastal berths.
(v) Government has exempted customs and Central Excise duty on bunker fuels (IFO 180 and IFO 380 CST) for carrying containerised cargo namely, export-import cargo or empty containers or domestic cargo, between ports in India.
(e) The total funds sanctioned and utilized by IWAI for the development of existing National Waterways for the last three years are tabulated below.
(Rs in crore)
Year BE RE Exp.(IWAI)
2010-11 115.00 137.59 117.63
2011-12 130.00 115.79 97.97
2012-13 211.72 148.11 151.53
2013-14 200.00 144.00 136.41
2014-15 200.00 117.917 118.87
2015-16 300.00 698.00 (proposed) 185.00 (provisional expenditure up to 30th Oct. 2015)
Annexe-I
INLAND WATERWAYS AUTHORITY OF INDIA (IWAI)
Cargo Movement for National Waterways-1, 2 & 3, Goa and Mumbai Waterways
from 2012-13 to 2015-16
(In Tonnes)
STRETCH Unit 2012-13 2013-14 2014-15 2015-16
(Upto October, 2015)
National Waterway-1 MT 2,716,436 3,349,138 4,123,236 1,589,278
National Waterway-2 MT 2,426,804 493,414 519,722 339,218
National Waterway-3 MT 1,236,403 1,066,006 965,246 627,226
Total of National Waterways MT 6,379,642 4,908,558 5,608,204 2,555,722
The Goa Waterways MT 7,582,266 1,003,364 976,987 -
Mumbai Waterways
(Dharamtar Creek) MT 9,722,819 10,178,956 22,544,335 -
Grand Total MT 23,684,728 16,090,878 29,129,526 2,555,722
Note:-
1. These figures are collected by IWAI from IWT Operators.
2. Average IWT distance of 50 km in Goa and 54 km in Mumbai Waterways has been considered.
3. For 2015-16 data is as estimated.
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