Hopeful of Parliament’s nod to convert rivers into waterways: Nitin Gadkari

Bengaluru: The government is hopeful of Parliament's nod on the bill to convert 111 rivers across the country into National Waterways in the current session, Road, Highways and Shipping Minister Nitin Gadkari said on Thursday.

In a bid to boost movement for goods and passengers via waterways, the Cabinet earlier this year approved the plans for enactment of legislation for converting 111 river stretches across the country into National Waterways.

"We are hopeful that we will get Parliament approval to convert 111 rivers across the country into waterways in this session only. This will usher in unexpected economic growth for the country," Gadkari said.

He added that work has picked up to strengthen the five existing National Waterways and once the waterways work gains momentum it will "revolutionise" water transport in the country in line with the Western nations where the segment serves as the backbone of the economy.

"We are setting up three multi-modal hubs in the country including one in Sahibganj in Bihar and once completed cargo could directly go to Bangaldesh from Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and states like Uttar Pradesh," he said.

The minister said inland waterways is a much cheaper and environment-friendly mode of transportation as "one HP moves 150 kg on road, 500 kg on rail and 4,000 kg on water" besides" one litre of fuel moves 24 tonne/km on road, 85 tonne/km on rail and 105 tonne/km on water.

Regretting that such an important mode of transport has so far taken a backseat, Gadkari said, waterways has a meagre share of 0.3 per cent in India compared with 42 per cent in Netherlands, 16 per cent in China and and over 7 per cent in the US.

"This is a great economic opportunity loss to India." He said.

Five of the river-stretches, which have been declared as National Waterways, include Allahabad-Haldia on Ganga (1,620 km), Brahmaputra's Dhubri-Sadiya (891 km), West Coast Canal Kottapuram-Kollam (205 km), Kakinada-Puducherry canals (1,078

km) and East Coast Canal integrated with Brahmani river and Mahanadi delta rivers (588 km). The minister said that consultants have already been appointed and detailed project reports (DPR) will be formulated once necessary approvals are in place.

The projects will be undertaken on public private partnership (PPP) mode.

Inland waterways comprising rivers, lakes, canals, creeks and backwaters extend to about 14,500 kms across the country.

Earlier, CII senior executive and EXCON Chairman Vipin Sondhi said that three-years of de-growth in the sector has stopped and amid proactive measures by the government, especially in the highways sector, the industry is set to grow manifold and bolster economic growth.

"There is much optimism in the industry. A lot of initiatives have been taken in the highways sector with several key policy measures to roll out stuck projects and there is a need to replicate it across various segments," Sondhi said.

He exuded confidence that similar steps would be taken by other government departments with corrective measures and industry friendly policies.

Gadkari said most of the 380 projects that were stuck at the time he took over the reins of the department have been rolled out.

"We have addressed 95 per cent of the problems pertaining to land acquisition, forest and environment clearances and problems related to railway over bridges and utility shifting," he added.