The Centre will soon appoint a consultant for developing the National Inland Waterway No 4 between Kakinada and Puducherry.
“State-owned Wapcos has submitted a detailed project report and now the government is keen to take up the project at the earliest. We would appoint a consultant in the next 2-4 months,” said Bupender Prasad, chairperson of Inland Waterways Authority of India.
The length of the project is 1,078 km and, according to initial estimates, Rs 1,515 crore would be required to develop this inland water way for navigation and cargo transport, she told mediapersons.
Stating that the Asian Development Bank had agreed to provide technical support and funds, Prasad said the government was planning to take up this project in public-private partnership. “These type of projects take a longer time to get financial viability, so the government would provide viability fund. We expect the government to take up this project in 12th Plan,” she said.
As part of the project, the government would also revive the old Buckingham Canal and improve some of the irrigation canals by deepening and widening them. There is scope to transport about 2 million tonne cargo per year through this inland waterway, she said.
At present, the country has three inland waterways — Allahabad- Haldia, Assam- Arunachal Pradesh and Pullapuram-Kollam (Kerala) — and about 70 million tonne cargo move every year through them.