Indian government plans to provide incentives for promoting cargo movement by inland waters
Conscious of the potential of the inland water transport the Indian authorities are getting set to remove all hurdles and give a boost to this cheaper cost effective, environment friendly mode of transport. The signal from the government at the workshop organized by the Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) on the 18th January 2010 at the World Trade Center, Mumbai was loud and clear. It wants to shift more of the cargo moving by road and rail to the inland water transport which at the moment contributes to only 1.5% of the nation’s domestic cargo.
The IWAI has made a beginning in a way by arranging this all India workshop to focus on the prospects of cargo movement for power plants projects on the National Waterways I & II. Mr. B. V. Chaturvedi, Member of the Planning Commission, Government of India, stressed that additional 78,000 MW of thermal power generation capacity will be added by the end of the 12th five-year plan period. For meeting the fuel demand more than 60 million tons of coal will have to be imported annually. It was desired that various stakeholders move this by the inland waterways.
“Lot of coal and equipment necessary for setting up of the power plants and operating them need to be moved by inland waterways,” he said. “This can be made possible by offering a competitive edge.” He pointed out that competitive edge was often regarded as ‘a dictate of the government’. Anything not commercial is bound to fail. Hence for making it competitive stakeholders looked for government support. Various schemes such as public private partnership model, etc., are being considered. However, in some cases the concerned state governments will have to be taken on board.
Ms Lakshmi Venkatachalam, Director General of Shipping, Govt. of India informed that the in order to provide seamless transition for vessel moving from inland to coastal waters and vice versa the directorate had come up with the River-Sea Rules which made suitable exemptions to cater to vessels plying within the national waters. “We are open to any suggestions to facilitate the trade further,” she said.
Mr. Sunil Kumar, Vice Chairman of IWAI gave details of the feasibility studies carried out for inland waterways movement of coal, heavy lift & project cargo required for the different power projects underway. Mr. L Shreedhar of Seabulk System Inc highlighted the elements of dry bulk transportation and the river projects they handled in the US wherein they had successfully introduced a system for bringing coal from the producer to the consumer at the lowest cost.
Various speakers disclosed their experiences in operating on the inland waterways. One prominent personality viz Mr. Dhuru Kotak of J. M. Baxi & Co advised that while moving heavy equipment by inland waters one has to be prepared to meet up with patches of shallow drafts. “To ensure success in such situations one has to be ready to unload the cargo on to smaller barges from the mother vessel and deliver the consignment to the user.
Then why is IWT not preferred? Ms R. Sushila of Vivada Inland Waterways Limited explained: :Investment in IWT is not flowing due to lack of long term contracts, tax incentives, investment subsidy;
Viability is judged mostly by the cost and easiness of handling, which can be improved with facilities of mechanical handling, night navigation etc.;
All other factors like environmental, socio economic are not duly appraised by users unless it comes with an incentive tag. She recommended publicity and various promotional methods for creating greater awareness.