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National Waterways Bill 2015: Time to take to Water

The approval of the National Waterways Bill, 2015, by both Houses of Parliament clears the decks for increasing the use of India’s extensive network of rivers, canals and other water stretches for transport. Let’s see this in brief.

Under bill, 106 additional inland waterways will be added to the list of national waterways, taking the number to 111

Under Entry 24 of the Union List of the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution, the central govt can make laws on shipping and navigation on inland waterways which are classified as national waterways by Parliament by law

Let’s see background of Inland Waterway Transport

<Why Govt has cleared decks for National waterways?>

• Inland Water Transport is considered as the most cost effective and economical mode of transport from the point of view of fuel efficiency
• One horse power can carry 4000 Kg load in water whereas, it can carry 150 Kg and 500 Kg by road and rail respectively
• Further in a study as highlighted by the World Bank, 1 litre of fuel can move 105 ton-Km by inland water transport, whereas the same amount of fuel can move only 85 ton-Km by rail and 24 ton-Km by road
• Studies have shown that emission from container vessels range from 32-36 gCO2 per ton-Km while those of road transport vehicles (heavy duty vehicles) range from 51-91gCO2 per ton-km.(Environment friendly)
• Many countries in Europe and elsewhere carry over 40% of their passenger and freight traffic through water. But in India this proportion is only 3.5 per cent
• Inland water transport’s share in the country’s total transport sector is less than 0.4%
• This is partly because of the inability to shift cargo between modes of transport without disruption

Let’s learn about five existing and one proposed waterway

1. Allahabad-Haldia Stretch of the Ganga Bhagirathi-Hooghly River
2. Sadiya-Dhubri Stretch of Brahmaputra River
3. Kollam-Kottapuram Stretch of West Coast Canal and Champakara and Udyogmandal Canals
4. Kakinada-Puducherry Stretch of Canals and the Kaluvelly Tank
   Bhadrachalam-Rajahmundry Stretch of River Godavari and Wazirabad-Vijayawada Stretch of River Krishna
5. Talcher-Dhamra Stretch of Rivers, Geonkhali-Charbatia Stretch of East Coast Canal, Charbatia-Dhamra Stretch of Matai River and Mahanadi Delta Rivers
6. This is a proposed national waterway b/w Lakhipur and bhanga of the Barak river

What are the Benefits of inland waterways?

• Recognised as fuel efficient, cost effective and environment friendly mode of transport, especially for bulk goods, hazardous goods and over dimensional cargos
• Reduces time, cost of transportation of goods and cargos, as well as congestion and accidents on highways
• Immense potential for domestic cargo transportation as well as for cruise, tourism and passenger traffic.
• Systematic development will open up progressive economic and transport opportunities in the country
• Open up considerable investment and business opportunities in the areas like water-based tourism, construction and operation of terminals, creation of storage accommodation, and provision of other facilities required for smooth water-based navigation
• Help to generate millions of new jobs

Are there any limitations/ problems to implement this national waterway project?
If any, How to solve those limitations?

• India’s water channels will need to have adequate width, depth and air clearance. Many rivers are seasonal, with water flows declining sharply after the monsoon
• Navigating such rivers in the lean season may, therefore, require regular and extensive dredging and desilting
• Higher water salinity, especially in the coastal regions and estuaries, and constant inflow of silt in the rivers can also be problematic
• Water highways will require more river ports with their support infrastructure – road and rail connections, warehouses and other services
• Heavy investment will be needed also to procure equipment, including dredgers, shipping vessels and barges of different sizes

What are the sources of funding and finances?

• Financial approval of the competent authority for each waterway would be taken based on outcome of techno-economic feasibility studies, that are being undertaken by the Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI)
• IWAI will develop the feasible stretch of National Waterways for shipping and navigation purpose through mobilization of financial resources
• Govt will explore multiple sources of finance, including market borrowings and tapping the National Clean Energy Fund (NCEF) and the Central Roads Fund  (CRF)

<The National Clean Energy Fund (NCEF) is a fund created in 2010-11 using the carbon tax – clean energy cess – for funding research and innovative projects in clean energy technologies of public sector or private sector entities, upto the extent of 40% of the total project cost. The Fund is designed as a non lapsable fund under Public Accounts>

<Central Road Fund (CRF) is a non-lapsable fund created under Section 6 of the Central Road Fund Act, 2000 out of a cess/tax imposed by Union Govt on consumption of Petrol and High Speed Diesel to develop and maintain National Highways, State roads (particularly those of economic importance and which provides inter-state connectivity), rural roads, railway under/over bridges etc.> 

To know what is cess, how it is different from tax and surcharge, click here

1. Private participation in infrastructure is needed – but will be possible only if such ventures become economically viable. For this, they will require adequate and assured 2-way traffic
2. But the traffic in bulk goods, such as coal, minerals, food grain, fertiliser and similar other commodities is often unidirectional, compelling the vessels to return empty or under-loaded. This aspect will need to be weighed and addressed
   

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   Published with inputs from Arun