Question : DEVELOPMENT OF ECO FRIENDLY NAVIGABLE TRANSPORT



(a) whether the Eco-friendly navigable mode of transport is proposed to be developed;

(b) if so, the waterways to be selected for this purpose; and

(c) the targets set up for starting such mode of transport on a bigger scale?

Answer given by the minister

MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF SURFACE TRANSPORT (DR. DEBENDRA PRADHAN) (a)&(b) : Yes, Sir. National Transport Policy Committee has identified the following ten waterways as having potential for declaration as national waterways.

 1.The Ganga-Bhagirathi-Hooghly river system 2. The Sunderbans 3. The Brhamaputra 4. The Narmada 5. The Mahanadi
6. The Tapi 7 The Godavari 8. The Krishna 9. The Mondovi and Zuari rivers and Cumberjua Canal in Goa
10. The West Coast Canal system in Kerala 
c) Presently the cargo movement by inland water transport is of the order of 1-15 billion tonne kilometre. The 9th Plan target is to increase this to 20 billion tonnne. kilometre, subject to availability of funds and manpower for development of Inland Water Transport infrastructure and private sector involvement in creation and operation of IWT fleet. ......