Realizing inland water transport dreams

India’s national waterways were conceived as feeder routes to bigger river routes to connect the country’s hinterland with cost-effective cargo services on small vessels. The number of national waterways was limited to only five until the National Waterways Act of 2016 declared 106 new national waterways across 24 states. Only 23 of these 111 national waterways have been made operational so far, and another waterway is scheduled to be operational next year, while 26 have been found viable. The aspirations of many hinterland areas for low-cost shipping and navigation that were triggered by the declaration of new national waterways remain a pipedream, as the Ministry of Ports, Shipping, and Waterways has not taken up the remaining 63 national waterways for now due to a dearth of finance and human resources. Commercial success and sustainability of the operational routes are crucial for attracting investment from global financial institutions or global players in shipping and navigation to explore business opportunities on the remaining routes. India’s share of inland water cargo transport is only 2% compared to 18% in Vietnam, 14% in China, and 11% in Germany, despite the fact that the operative cost in the case of waterways is 30% less than that of railways and 60% less than roadways. The deposition of silt along the river channels rendered most of these routes unviable for commercial-scale navigation, which explains the paradoxical situation. Inland water transport norms stipulate that if a vessel of 1000 deadweight tonnes (DWT) capacity is capable of operating on an inland waterway, then the route is commercially viable. A depth of 2.5 metres of the navigational channel with at least 45 metres of width needs to be maintained for the smooth navigability of such vessels. This requires regular hydrographic surveys and the undertaking of conservation measures, which involve huge expenditures that need to be balanced with adequate revenue generation. A hydrographic survey is to be carried out every fortnight to determine the depth along the navigational channel. The Central Government has set the target to increase the share of inland water transport to 5% by 2030, which will require maintenance of the fairways of the routes already operational and undertake dredging and other measures to make the viable routes operational at the earliest. Achieving the target will mean increasing the volume of cargo from 73 million metric tonnes per year (MTPA) to more than 200 MTPA and increasing the number of annual passengers moved on ferry from 14 crore to 70 crore over the next seven years. Official data shows that China spent 15 billion US dollars over a five-year period from 2005 to 2010, Germany spent 12 billion euros in a single year in 2012, and India spent only 250 million US dollars over a 28-year-long period from 1986 to 2014. As a result, India is not only lagging behind these countries; the revival of the country’s waterways has become a huge challenge due to the deposition of silt for decades. The declaration of these river routes as national waterways reflects the intent of the government to increase the share of inland water transport and provides a legal framework, but mobilising the huge financial resources required to make up for long years of neglect in the past is a herculean task. Making all national routes operational is also crucial for achieving the climate mitigation goals of decarbonising road transport. The navigability of operational routes cannot be sustained without addressing issues of riverbank erosion and loss of forest cover in the upper reaches of the rivers. Coordination between central and state governments, central ministries and state government departments, and cooperation between states in the case of multi-state rivers are critical to facilitating a river-basin-level approach for anti-erosion and conservation measures. If the erosion problem worsens, it will only lead to an increase in the rate of silt deposition, making fairway maintenance difficult and unviable. Ensuring that river ecology is not destroyed while undertaking dredging and conservancy measures requires undertaking in-depth environmental impact studies so that the aquatic lives and livelihoods of fishermen and others dependent on river navigation can be protected. Loss of livelihoods will have negative impacts on the local economy along the river, and this will eventually lead to a decline in market potential for cargo transport. In Assam, the revival of cargo transport along the Brahmaputra, bringing consignments from the rest of India through Bangladesh, has triggered fresh hopes for commercial use of the national waterway (NW)-2. Making other national waterways along the tributaries of the Brahmaputra and Barak operational as feeder routes will attract global players to the potential of waterways in the northeast region for cargo transport and tourism, besides ferrying passengers to reduce traffic congestion on roads and railways. The improvement of navigability along the Brahmaputra via the Indo-Bangladesh Protocol route has already attracted traders in Bhutan and Bangladesh to use the route. Hopes triggered by the declaration of national waterways must be realised for the improvement of inland water transport in the region.