IWAI explores inland water transport facility from Norway
The above declaration was made by Jayashree Mukherjee, Vice-Chairperson, AIWI at an interactive session organized by the Indian Chamber of Commerce (ICC) and the IWAI held here on Jun 12.
Representatives of the Royal Norwegian Embassy in New Delhi, delegates from reputed Norwegian firms like Rolls Royce and TTS Group of companies along with a financial institution, discussed the subject with some of the prominent stake holders at Kolkata from among the ship builders, and barge operating firms in India.
The prime issues identified for discussion during the meet included identification of cargo for IWT and assessment of the requirement of the operators, ship builders and Industry demand for adoption of Inland Water Transport for efficient vessel construction.
During the interaction with Norwegian team on related issues, like shallow draft vessel design optimization, vessel maintenance & operational requirements were discussed.
According to the officials, the IWAI is currently engaged in working on various measures to promote India’s water transport system on the National Waterways with the objective of exploring the requisite fairway, terminal infrastructure and 24-hr navigational aids to ensure a complimentary, if not entirely alternative, navigation system on a large stretch of the country’s waterways.
The participants were of the opinion that while some of the agencies are already availing the facilities, much more is still to be done.
In its endeavors to promote IWT as a viable, alternative mode of transport to decongest the already saturated Rail & Road transport sectors in the Eastern Region, the government is engaged in technology transfer from developed countries, the officials said.
As a part of these Technology Transfer agreements, the government of India has initiated bilateral assistance programmes in the Maritime sector with countries like Netherlands and Norway.
A Joint Working Group has already been set up by India and Norway for Maritime development in India with a specific subgroup for IWT related activities, the officials informed.
The longest among the waterways in India, National Waterway–1, (Ganga-Hooghly- Bhagirathi river system) between Sagar(Haldia) and Allahabad (1640 Km) traverses through the states of West Bengal, Jharkand, Bihar and UttarPradesh.
The National Waterway-2 (River Brahmaputra) between Dhubri and Sadia (840 Km) traverses through the NE state of Assam, and the National Waterway-3 (West Coast Canal System) between Kottapuram and Kollkam including Champakkara canal and Udyogamandal canals (205 Km) passes through Kerala.
The officials further said that in addition, the IWAI also develops and maintains Indo-Bangladesh Protocol routes through Sunderban waterways.
Protocol routes (1-4) connect National Waterway-1 and National Waterway-2 through cross border waterways in Bangladesh.
Movement of cargo through these National waterways and Protocol Routes is already in vogue.
Besides these, development of two more National waterways (NW4 in Andhra Pradesh and Tamilnadu and NW5 in Odisha) are in progress.
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