Question

Discuss the advantages of Inland Waterways Transport (IWT) over rail and road sector. What are the challenges in the development of IWT in India? What are the initiatives taken by government to promote IWT.

Answer 1

Approach:

• In the intro discuss about the basic information of Inland waterways.
• Discuss about the benefits of Inland Water Transport.
• Discuss about the challenges in the development of Inland Water Transport.
• Discuss about the initiatives taken by government to promote Inland Water Transport.
• Provide appropriate conclusion.

India has 14,500 kilometres of navigable inland waterways. The logistic share of waterways in the USA is 8.3 percent, in Europe (7 per cent), in China (8.7 per cent), while in India it is only about 1.5 per cent. A developed IWT will not only augment the overall transport capacity of the country, but will also help correct the transport modal mix that impose huge logistics costs on the Indian economy. The costs of logistics in India, at 15 percent of GDP, is about twice those in the United States.

Benefits of Inland Water Transport:
IWT provides supplementary mode of transport which is cost effective, fuel efficient and environment friendly

1. Low emissions - CO2 equivalent greenhouse gases emission per tonne km of cargo transportation is 15g by IWT, 28g by Rail and 64g by Road transport.
2. Low energy consumption - 1 HP can carry 4000 kg load in Water, 500 kg by Rail and 150 kg on Road.
3. Low fuel cost - 1 litre fuel can move 105 tonne-km by IWT, 85 tonne-km by Rail and 24 tonne-km of freight by Road.
4. IWT can provide optimal modal mix by integrating river transport with other modes thereby reducing total logistics cost.
5. It eases congestion on Road and Rail networks.
6. IWT requires very little land acquisition as compared to Road and Rail modes.

Challenges in the development of IWT:
There are multiple constraints in transporting men and materials perennially on inland waterway corridors.

• Periodic dredging is required to clear the silt that comes with the monsoon, so that adequate depth is maintained. Both fixed and floating terminals are needed at multiple points along the waterways.
• Many rivers are becoming progressively drier;
• Many of those that retain adequate volumes are spanned by low bridges that would hinder passage of larger vessels.
• The problem is that most of the waterways included in the list of 101 new waterways are freshwater rivers, which even dry up completely during post monsoon period.
• The diversion of water for navigation should not be at the cost of other priority uses such as drinking and irrigation.
• India is struggling to create depth in its river systems for vessels of 1,500 tonnage to go through.

Initiatives taken by government to promote IWT:

1. Under the National Waterways Act, 2016, 106 new national waterways were announced.
2. Jal Marg Vikas Project (JMVP) is being implemented on National Waterway-1 (NW-1) to enable commercial navigation on Varanasi-Haldia stretch of river Ganga. Under this, Multi-Modal Terminal (MMT) is constructed on River Ganga for navigation of large vessels weighing up to 1500-2000 tonnes.
3. Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI), the nodal agency under the Ministry of Shipping is mandated to make National Waterways commercially navigable. IWAI aims to increase the cargo transportation through IWT on National Waterways in the country from 55 million tonnes currently to 150 million tonnes by 2023.
4. Amendment of Central Road Fund Act, 2000 to allocate 2.5 percent of the proceeds of Central Road Fund (CRF) for development and maintenance of National Waterways (NWs)

Way Forward:
In undertaking this paradigm shift towards inland water transport, India should implement the sustainability practices in Europe. A consultative, interdisciplinary approach, as opposed to a techno-centric one, would keep the negative consequences to a minimum. Along with A multi-modal approach will address chronic logistics issues in transport sector.