Question : NATIONAL WATERWAYS

(a) whether the Government has considered any proposals or implemented any schemes for the development of inland water transport system including the implementation of national waterways number 5 in the State of Odisha as well as development of waterways particularly in the States of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh;

(b) if so, the details of the schemes or projects completed and details of the schemes under implementation;

(c) whether the Government is also considering to start a water transport route between Cochin International Airport and the Cochin city;

(d) if so, the steps taken to expedite the completion of the said projects along with the amount allocated and spent for such projects during the last three years and the current year; and

(e) the areas identified for further development of inland water transport in the country?

MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF SHIPPING (SHRI MILIND DEORA)

(a) & (b): Development and regulation of only those waterways which have been declared as National Waterways come under the purview of Central Government. The responsibility of development of other waterways rests with the respective State Governments. The waterways which have been declared as National Waterways (NWs) are as follow:

(i) Ganga-Bhagirathi-Hooghly river system (Allahabad-Haldia-1620 km) in the States of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal as NW-1.

(ii) River Brahmaputra (Dhubri-Sadiya – 891 km) in the State of Assam as NW-2.

(iii) West Coast Canal (Kottapuram-Kollam) along with Udyogmandal and Champakara Canals – (205 km) in the State of Kerala as NW-3.

(iv) Kakinada-Puducherry canals along with Godavari and Krishna rivers (1078 km) – in the States of Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Union Territory of Puducherry as NW-4.

(v) East Coast Canal integrated with Brahmani river and Mahanadi delta rivers (588 km) in the states of West Bengal and Odisha as NW-5.

As regards NW-5, detail project report (DPR) has been prepared. As advised by the Planning Commission, efforts are being made to develop more commercially viable stretch thereof under Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode with Viability Gap Funding. In this regard, a consultant has been appointed by Department of Economic Affairs/ Asian Development Bank for reviewing the DPR and preparing and processing PPP projects for developing river portion of the waterway.

The NW-1 from Allahabad to Ballia (482 km) is in Uttar Pradesh and from Ballia to Sahebganj (488 km) in Bihar. In these stretches of the States of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, IWAI is developing and maintaining Inland Water Transport (IWT) infrastructure namely navigational channel, aids for navigation and floating terminals at several locations. Permanent RCC terminal has also been constructed at Patna. Differential Global Positioning System (DGPS) stations have been set up at Bhagalpur and Patna. Development of waterway is a continuous process and various projects are implemented for providing/maintaining these IWT infrastructure facilities.

(c) & (d): The stretch of Udyogmandal canal between Pathalam and Kochi port (23 km) has already been developed and is being maintained for water transport as a part of NW-3. The stretch upstream of Pathalam bridge upto Nedumbassery Airport does not form part of NW-3.

(e): Steps for declaration of Lakhipur- Bhanga stretch of River Barak (121 km) in Assam as sixth national waterway are being taken.