India’s Road Transport, Highways and Shipping minister Nitin Gadkari has called the industry to invest more in the development of inland waterways because there is huge potential and the minister has promised government’s complete support to such investments. According to him the government has already initiated several steps to develop water sports and sea ports and is looking to build satellite dry ports for connecting the land locked areas with the nearest sea and water ports. “India is yet to tap the potential of waterways despite the fact that this mode of transport is much more cost effective compared to road and rail transport,” said Gadkari. He said the government has recently cleared road projects worth Rs 40,000 crore on EPC (engineering, procurement and construction) mode since project developers are avoiding public private partnership (PPP) mode. “Roads, highways and ports projects worth Rs 50,000 crore are still stuck up on account of various clearances including environment related clearances as well as due to interventions of various courts. The Ministry has already cleared such projects worth Rs 150,000 of crore,” he said.