HT Bureau
GUWAHATI, Jan 10: The Inland Waterways Development Council (IWDC), the apex meet for policy deliberation on inland waterways in the country has announced investments of more than Rs 50,000 crore over the next five years, said an official statement on Friday.
The announcements to boost infrastructure along national waterways (NWs) were made at the second meeting of IWDC, organised by the Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI), at Kaziranga, a statement said.
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In this regard, a series of new initiatives across 21 Inland Waterway States were announced worth more than Rs 1400 crore.
Chaired by Union Minister of Ports, Shipping and Waterways Sarbananda Sonowal, the meeting mooted major policy initiative in the form of Riverine Community Development Scheme improve the socio-economic well-being of coastal communities by developing infrastructure, promotion of trade and tourism along with riverine ecosystem, providing skill enrichment trainings and upgrading traditional knowledge of river of the communities.
Speaking on the occasion, Sonowal said that IWDC has anchored a new vista for cooperative federalism as both the governments at Union and the states discussed, deliberated, debated and dwelled on multiple aspects for strengthening of inland waterways.
“Historically, the role of inland waterways has been paramount for civilisations. However, this basic tenet of development remained ignored until 2014. Under the dynamic leadership of our Prime Minister Narendra Modi, we are attempting at rejuvenating the support system of inland waterways so that we decongest railways and roadways and at the same time, provide a viable, economic, sustainable and efficient mode of transportation for both passengers and cargo operators. At IWDC, we levelled up solutions to tide over challenges in an attempt to unlock the opportunities for economic development. In this regard, we have aimed at launching 1000 Green vessels,” he added.
Highlighting the focus of IWDC on employment generation and skill training, Sarbananda Sonowal said, “Major projects of upgrade in
Inland Waterways Transport (IWT) has been conceived today at the meeting. To build a robust IWT in the country, the government is planning to develop shipbuilding and ship repair facilities across all the NWs. This will reduce logistics costs, boosting the ancillary industries, and encouraging inclusion of riparian communities through employment opportunities.
“Further to the NINE Regional Centres of Excellence (RCoE) to skill up manpower and encourage innovation & research in the marine and IWT sector being developed by the Ministry, more CEOs will be created all across the nation,” he said.
Highlighting the growth of inland waterways in the country, Sonowal said that from April to November 2024, NWs have recorded a growth of almost 7 per cent as compared to last year.
A significant growth has been made in last one decade in river cruise tourism and the river cruise vessels have increased from 3 in 2013-14 to 25 in 2023-24, the Union minister said.
He further said that the Central government has also recently launched the ‘Cruise Bharat Mission’ to boost cruise tourism in India over next five years, aiming to establish 10 sea cruise terminals, 100 river cruise terminals, and five marinas.
“Through strategic regional projects and agreements with neighbouring countries such as Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar and others, we are facilitating regional trade and seamless transport connectivity in South Asia,” Sonowal stated.
For Assam, Sonowal announced setting up of Regional Centre of Excellence (RcoE) in Dibrugarh.
“The aim of this institution will be to incubate an ecosystem to train and develop manpower for IWT sector in the Northeast region encouraging innovations. The historic building of IWAI in Dibrugarh has been identified for refurbishment and preserve its glory as a Historic Building,” he said.
Sonowal also announced setting up of FOUR new Tourist Jetties at Biswanath Ghat, Neamati Ghat, Silghat and Guijan.
“A new link road of 500 meters will be constructed between the under construction Ship Repair Facility to Pandu Port in Guwahati,” Sonowal added.
Speaking on the development in Assam and the Northeast, Sonowal said, “The strategic significance is underscored by a substantial investment of over ₹1,000 crore in Assam in the last couple of years dedicated to advancement of these waterways.
“Projects such as Comprehensive development of NW-2, Ship repair facility at Pandu, Bogibeel terminal development, last mile connectivity to Pandu are some of the projects have already taken off. Further huge investments are envisaged for development of North-Eastern waterways which stand as a resounding testament to their critical role in propelling economic growth and prosperity,” he avowed.
