May 30, 2017: Union Shipping Minister Nitin Gadkari has said that operationalising at least 10 of the 111 National Waterways next year is on the top of government’s agenda.
This comes while the government last week approved allocation of 2.5 percent of the Central Road Fund (CRF) for NWs that would result in about Rs 2,000 crore proceeds a year for their development.
According to reports, Gadkari said that with the cabinet approving Rs 2,000 crore from CFR and by raising more funds like this, his ministry can easily get works done worth Rs 12,000 crore. He further said that his endeavour is to operationalise 10 waterways before December 2018.
Massive work worth Rs 5,000 crore is already underway on Ganga (1,620 km) with World Bank assistance which is the National Waterway No 1.
The work includes development of three multi-modal hubs at Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh, Haldia in West Bengal and Sahebganj in Bihar.
The Inland Waterways Authority of India, under the shipping ministry, is also facilitating cruise operations on NW-1 from Kolkata to Varanasi in collaboration with private cruise operators.
Gadkari also added that apart from Ganga, development of NW-2 which is Brahmaputra (890 km stretch) is also top on the agenda of the government.
The third project will be Amba and then on Brahmani river between Talcher and Paradip.
The shipping ministry has a target to start work on 24 NWs in the next three years.