| It has introduced two Bills in Parliament for this, which have been referred to the standing committee on transport. |
| Ministry officials expect the proposal to be cleared during the Monsoon Session of Parliament. Once this is done, the number of waterways in the country will go up to five. |
| Under the first stretch (the Kakinada-Puducherry canals along the Godavari and Krishna rivers), the Bhadrachalam-Rajahmundry stretch of the river Godavari and the Wazirabad-Vijayawada stretch of the river Krishna have been included. |
| The length of this is 1,095 km, while the second stretch of the east coast canal integrated with the Brahmani river and the Mahanadi delta is spread over 623 km. |
| The three national waterways present now are on the river Ganges from Haldia to Allahabad, on the Brahmaputra river from Dhubri to Sadiya, and on the west coast from Kottapuram to Kollam. |
| After the approval of the proposal, the Inland Waterways Authority of India will start dredging the river and canal beds to make them around 2 metres deep, so that bigger vessels can ply on them. |
| Shipping ministry officials said to develop these stretches as waterways, a major thrust through public-private partnership would be required and an action plan would be prepared. |
| Apart from this, terminals will be made and channels widened to allow navigation of bigger vessels. |
| Ministry officials said once these stretches were developed, 100-tonne capacity vessels would be able to ply on the canal portions, while on the river stretches, vessels of 300 tonne capacity would be able to ply. |
| Prior to proposing the conversion of the two stretches as national waterways, the Inland Waterways Authority of India undertook techno-economic feasibility studies to assess their potential for development as national waterways. |
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