Inland waterways of India

Inland Water Ways of India

India has an extensive network of inland waterways in the form of rivers, canals, backwaters and creeks. The total navigable length is 14,500 km (9,000 mi), out of which about 5,200 km (3,200 mi) of the river and 4,000 km (2,500 mi) of canals can be used by mechanized crafts. Freight transportation by waterways is highly under-utilized in India compared to other large countries and geographic areas like the United States, China and the European Union. The total cargo moved (in tonne kilometers) by the inland waterway was just 0.1% of the total inland traffic in India, compared to the 21% figure for United States. Cargo transportation in an organised manner is confined to a few waterways in Goa, West Bengal, Assam ,and Kerala.

Cost of water transportation in India is barely 50 paise (0.74¢ US) a kilometer, as compared to ₹1 (1.5¢ US) by railways and ₹1.5 (2.2¢ US) by roads.^[1] Hence water transportation is receiving significant attention in recent times since logistics cost in India is one of the highest among major countries - it is 18% in India versus 8-10% in China and 10-12% in European Union.^[2] Inland waterways in India consist of the Ganges (Ganga)–Bhagirathi–Hooghly rivers, the Brahmaputra, the Barak river, the rivers in Goa, the backwaters in Kerala, inland waters in Mumbai and the deltaic regions of the Godavari - Krishna rivers. About 44 million tones of cargo is moved annually through these waterways using mechanized vessels and country boats.^[3]

List

Buckingham Canal in Andhra Pradesh

Name	Details	Length	Declared on	Status
National Waterway 1	Allahabad–Haldia stretch of the Ganges–Bhagirathi–Hooghly river[4]	1,620 km (1,010 mi)	1986	operational[5]
National Waterway 2	Sadiya–Dhubri stretch of the Brahmaputra river	891 km (554 mi)	1988	operational[5]
National Waterway 3	Kollam-Kozhikode stretch of West Coast Canal and Champakara and Udyogamandal Canals[5]	365 km (227 mi)[5]	1993	operational[5]
National Waterway 4	Kakinada–Pondicherry stretch of canals and Kaluvelly tank, Bhadrachalam–Rajahmundry stretch of River Godavari and Wazirabad–Vijayawada stretch of River Krishna	1,095 km (680 mi)	2008	declared
National Waterway 5	Talcher–Dhamra stretch of rivers, Geonkhali–Charbatia stretch of East Coast Canal, Charbatia–Dhamra stretch of Matai river and Mahanadi delta rivers	620 km (390 mi)	2008	declared
National Waterway 8	Alappuzha-Changanassery Canal[5]	28 km (17 mi)[5]	2016[5]	notified[5]
National Waterway 9	Alappuzha-Kottayam-Athirampuzha Canal[5]	38 km (24 mi)[5]	2016[5]	notified[5]
National Waterway 16	Lakhipur-Bhanga stretch of the Barak River will result in unified development of the waterways for shipping and navigation and transportation of cargo to the North Eastern Region particularly in the states of Assam, Nagaland, Mizoram, Manipur, Tripura and Arunachal Pradesh	121 km (75 mi)	January 2013[6]	declared
National Waterway 59	Kottayam-Vaikom Canal[5]	28 km (17 mi)[5]	2016[5]	notified[5]

Participation of Government Agencies, Public & Private Sector Enterprises in IWT/NW development

Participation of Government Agencies, Public & Private Sector Enterprises in IWT/NW development

Vessels / Terminals	Construction, Operation & Maintenance	Government Agencies	Public Sector Enterprises	Private Sector Enterprises
Waterway	Constructing of waterway	IWAI	CIWTC in Sundarbans	-
Waterway	Maintenance of Waterway	IWAI	Subcontracted Dredging	Subcontracted Dredging
Waterway	Navigational Support	IWAI	Ports, near port areas GPS suppliers (KPT, Port of Panaji)	-
Carriers (Vessels)	Vessel Manufacturing	-	CIWTC, Hooghly Docks, Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers (GRSE)	Several
Carriers (Vessels)	Vessel ownership	IWAI	CIWTC/KSINCL and others	Several
Carriers (Vessels)	Vessel maintenance/repair	-	CIWTC/KSINCL and others	Several
Carriers (Vessels)	Vessel Operation	-	CIWTC/KSINCL and others	Several
Terminals (Jetties)	Terminal construction	IWAI and State Government	Mormugao Port Trust, CIWTC	Several
Terminals (Jetties)	Terminal operation	-	Mormugao Port Trust	Several

IWAI - Inland Waterways Authority of India CIWTC - Central Inland Water Transport Corporation KSINCL- Kerala State Inland Navigation Company Limited

References

1. "Maruti Suzuki planning to transport vehicles via inland waterways". news. Economic Times. 25 July 2016. Retrieved 25 July 2016.
2. PTI (12 August 2016). "Government to spend Rs 50,000 crore on river front development: Nitin Gadkari". news. The Economic Times. Retrieved 12 August 2016.
3. INTRODUCTION TO INLAND WATER TRANSPORT
4. "Maruti Suzuki to start transporting through national waterways No 1", The Economic Times, 9 August 2016
5. "Four National Waterways for State notified", The Hindu, 26 July 2016
6. Press Information Bureau Of India

External links