Question : Development of Buckingham Canal as Waterway

(a) whether the Government proposes to develop Buckingham canal between Kakinada-Puducherry as river transport system and to extend it up to Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh;
(b) if so, the details thereof and the progress made in this regard;
(c) whether the Government also proposes to set up eight terminals in Andhra Pradesh viz. Kakinada, Rajamahendravaram, Tadepalligudem, Eluru, Vijayawada, Kothapatnam, Mypadu, Dugarajapatnam, if so, the details thereof and progress made in this regard so far; and
(d) whether our country has the potential of only 0.28% in term of goods carriage through shipping whereas other countries like Netherlands has 42%, France 15%, Hungary 15%, Germany 19%, Belgium 13%, USA 15% through Inland waterways, if so, the details thereof and reasons therefor along with the steps being taken to learn from European Union in this regard?

(a) & (b) No, Sir. There is no proposal to develop Buckingham canal between Kakinada-Puducherry as river transport system and to extend it up to Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh.

(c) To develop navigation on the Vijayawada–Muktyala stretch of river Krishna which is part of National Waterway-4 in Andhra Pradesh, works have commenced at a cost of Rs.96 crore. The interventions in this stretch include four floating terminals at Durga Ghat, Bhavani Island, Amravati and Vedadri and four permanent terminals at Ibrahimpatnam, Harischandrapuram, Muktyala and Madipadu.

(d) At present Inland Water Transport (IWT) Sector has a modal share of about 1.0% in the total transportation sector of India and various initiatives have been taken to increase the modal share of IWT e.g. Jal Marg Vikas Project on NW-1 and development of navigation facilities on technically viable new National Waterways.

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