A bill to develop 101 waterways was passed by Lok Sabha today with government saying it was aiming to garner Rs 1 lakh crore to fund projects to provide low-cost river transportation as 'Make-in-India' dream will not be realised if logistics cost are not reduced.
Citing the "success stories" of Europe as well as China in the use of waterways, Shipping Minister Nitin Gadkari said India is lagging behind and outlined how the government is now developing national waterways to cut logistics cost, make Indian industry competitive and help developing smart townships along the rivers.
Replying to a debate on The National Waterways Bill, 2015, he sought the support of states in this endeavour.
The House later passed the bill by voice vote after approval of the official amendments, mostly of technical nature, and rejecting an amendment proposed by N K Premachandran (RSP).
Gadkari said his ministry is working to develop three more major ports, besides the existing 12 as the aim is to reduce the logistic cost with a view to promote exports, generate employment, boost tourism and growth.
Responding to members' questions over funding of the ambitious waterways projects, the minister said he is aiming to garner Rs 1 lakh crore through innovative methods, which include a Rs 50,000 crore from World Bank, investment of profits of shipping PSUs into a subsidiary company and obtaining dollar loan at cheaper rates, besides seeking funds from the Budget.
He said his ministry has hired foreign consultants to seek technical expertise for construction of water ports.
"Make-in-India dream cannot be realised if logistics cost are not reduced. So waterways are being given a priority. We want to work with state government support. If some state government says they do not want to work, we will not work. We will work with cooperation of states," Gadkari said.
Talking about the measures being taken, he said in two years' time Ganga will look clean, logistic cost will reduce to 15 per cent from 30 per cent, market competition will increase and new township will be set up along river.
The Bill seeks to develop 101 waterways across the country and is aimed at providing a cheaper mode of transport and reducing traffic burden on roads.
The new 101 new inland waterways will be in addition to the five existing National Waterways.
The government has said promotion of waterways is a priority for this as it is a cheaper mode of transportation compared to roads and railways.
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Gadkari talked about development of Yamuna river way and said in next two years, it would be possible for tourists to travel to Taj Mahal from Delhi on catamaran.
Encouragement to use of waterways will also help in reducing pollution, the minister said, adding LNG terminals will be built to ensure supply of natural gas for transportation.
Gadkari said a major portion of the traffic in developed countries moves through waterways and that his Ministry has learnt from the "success stories" of countries like Holland and China.
Lamenting that adequate attention has not been paid for development of waterways in the country, Gadkari said "inland water ways authority of India has not been working professionally and lacks speed".
To address this, he has asked the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust to form a subsidiary company to take up such projects.
Government will develop a Rs 500 crore water gate at Farakka, a tender of which will be issued in January 2016.
"Industrial area, pre-cooling plants, coal storages will come along river side. Fishermen will be most benefited as it will help fisheries, food processing and packaging industry will come up and that can be sent to Haldia port and exported to world market," Gadkari said.
Referring to clearances like environmental ones, the minister said, "It is easy to construct express highways, but difficult to get clearances". He said in the case of 101 waterways in question, all permissions are in place.
He said development of waterways will also help in reducing road accidents. About 5 lakh accidents occur on roads every year in which about 1.5 lakh lose their lives.
"Although we are increasing road length from 96,000 km to 1.5 lakh, we have to go for new options with increasing pollution," he said.
Multimodal terminals at Allahabad, Varanasi, Gazipur in UP, Sahibganj in Jharkhand and Haldia in West Bengal will be set up which will have rail and road connectivity. Besides, 27 water ports including art Patna will be built.
Gadkari maintained that the government is aiming to reduce traffic burden from roads, which will also help curb pollution, by promoting water transportation where the cost is barely 25 paise a km in comparison to Re 1 by railways and Rs 1.5 a km through roads.
Inland waterways, comprising rivers, lakes, canals, creeks and backwaters, extend about 14,500 km across the country. However, potential of this mode of transport has not been fully exploited so far.
