According to data available with the Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI), about 55 million tone of cargo is being moved annually by Inland Water Transport (IWT), a fuel – efficient and environment -friendly mode.
India has about 14,500 km of navigable waterways which comprise of rivers, canals, backwaters, creeks, etc. Its operations are currently restricted to a few stretches in the Ganga-Bhagirathi-Hooghly rivers, the Brahmaputra, the Barak river, the rivers in Goa, the backwaters in Kerala, inland waters in Mumbai and the deltaic regions of the Godavari – Krishna rivers.
Besides these organized operations by mechanized vessels, country boats of various capacities also operate in various rivers and canals and substantial quantum of cargo and passengers are transported in this unorganized sector as well.
It may be noted that IWAI is interested to rope in a contractor for transportation of 3 million metric tonne per annum (mn mtpa) of imported coal to NTPC’s Super Thermal Power Project at Barh, Bihar through national waterway number 1.
The contractor would be responsible for conceiving suitable logistic solution and developing infrastructure fro handling and transportation of coal and its operation for 10 years.
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