AP’s inland waterways projects set to benefit economy by rs 800 cr

Visakhapatnam: Andhra Pradesh has identified eight inland waterways projects along with water tourism projects as part of its vision for inland waterways development with the support of the Central Government by involving PPP players in a big way, AP Inland Waterways Authority (APIWA) CEO SVK Reddy said.

He told Bizz Buzz on the lines of a conference here that AP has set up an exclusive authority as part of policy intervention to promote inland waterways for sustainable and eco-friendly freight transport. The key takeaways are to decongest roads, create substantial jobs in rural areas, save fuel/forex at 32.72 MLPA amounting to Rs 370 crore and reduce distance of travel and movement of trucks.

The Government of India has declared 111 National Waterway projects under Jal Marg Vikas Pariyojana (JMVP) and Sagarmala Programme. The AP government enacted legislation and created APIWA in June.

The eight projects envisaged by AP as part of its vision for 2030 include Mukthyala, Ibrahimpatnam (both River Krishna), Seethanagaram (River Godavari), temple tourism (River Krishna), Gandikota-Mylavaram Water Tourism, Kadapa Region to Krishnapatnam Port, Mukthyala/Nalgonda region to Machilipatnam Port and Muktyala (Jaggayyapeta region) to Kakinada Port.

Reddy said they are planning to undertake Rolls on-Rolls off (RoRo) projects over Muktyala for decongestion of State Highways 34 and 216 and prevent movement of 500 trucks per day and save road distance by 125 kms and 40 hours time per trip. This will lead to saving of 9.2 MLPA of POL and forex of Rs 103 crore per annum. It is also expected to benefit the economy by Rs 497 crore annually.

He said besides ensuring efficient port connectivity, they are also drawing up action plans for cruise services to promote tourism. The projects with a multi-pronged approach for tourism and navigation will come up over the Krishna, Godavar, Penna, Tungabhadra, Eluru Canal, Kummamuru Canal, Kakinada Canal, Buckingham Canal, Bandar Canal in the first phase.

National waterway projects will come up over Krishna, Godavari rivers and Kakinada, Eluru and Buckingham canals.

National Waterways-4 will cover 978 km. Feasibility studies are being conducted on proposed projects over River Nagavali: (Bathili-Kalingapatnam) over a stretch of 110 km, River Sabari (Kunavaram–Kolleru) 34 km, River Kunderu 100 km from Penna confluence, River Cheyyeru 100 km from Penna confluence and River Papagni 100 km from Penna confluence.

The vision for inland waterways development in AP envisages doubling inland waterways transport share to 18 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) by 2030 and providing RoRo services wherever feasible, developing cruise service, water-bound tourism and State waterways for port connectivity.

He said projects between Kadapa-Krishnapatnam will facilitate movement of 15 million tonnes of EXIM cargo such as coal, flyash, cement, gypsum from five dement plants and a thermal power plant. An integrated steel plant is also coming up in the region.

The projects are expected to decongest roads by 800 trucks per day, save 14 MLPA of POL with forex of Rs 157 crore per annum. The economy is expected to be benefited by Rs 800 crore, Reddy pointed out.