NEW DELHI, July 5:
Keen on promoting water transport, the Government will introduce a bill in the upcoming monsoon session of Parliament that seeks to convert 101 rivers across the country into waterways.
Converting existing rivers into waterways will propel economic growth as it is a cheaper mode to transport cargo and with this objective in mind, Government has set the target to convert 101 rivers into waterways, Road Transport, Highways and Shipping Minister Nitin Gadkari said.
“In the next Parliament session, the Bill will be introduced,” Gadkari said. Promoting waterways is the top-most priority of the Ministry as it will ease the burden from road and rail network besides being cost-effective and eco-friendly, he said.
“Unfortunately, this mode of transport is yet to be tapped in the country whereas this mode accounts for 47 per cent of China’s transportation and 40 per cent of Europe’s transport.
“The total transportation cost through waterways comes to barely 30 paise/km in comparison to Re 1/km through railways and Rs 1.5/km through road. Unfortunately, this mode of transport is yet to be tapped in our country,” Gadkari said.
Even Japan and Korea depend on waterways, he said, adding that in India it is a minimal 3.3 per cent, of which 3 per cent is coastal transport and remaining 0.3 per cent is inland transport. (PTI)
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