Posted on December 8, 2016
By Anisha Dutta, Anisha Dutta
The ministry of shipping, which has introduced a slew of projects along the National Waterway-1 (NW1), will shortly be awarding a contract for dredging works from Farakka Barrage in West Bengal to Kahalgaon in Bihar.
Dredging refers to the activity of excavating bottom sediments to make waterways navigable.
The Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) which has been tasked to implement projects at the national waterways aims to make NW1 navigable for vessels weighing 1,500 to 2,000 tonne.
“Since there is no uniform depth across the whole stretch from Farakka to Kahalgaon, dredging is required to maintain least assured available depth of 3 meter. Depth becomes an issue in the stretch where 1,500-2,000 tonne vessels can’t move, and therefore we are about to award a contract wherein the company that wins will provide minimum depth to us for a period of five years. It is in the final stages and the bidding has been completed,” said Pravir Pandey, vice-chairman, IWAI.
The project has received bids from the Dredging Corp. of India Ltd (DCI), Dharti Dredging and Infrastructure Ltd (DDIL) and Adani Group.
DCI is an Indian government undertaking. On 28 September, DCI had signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with IWAI for taking up inland dredging works on the national waterways.
The project forms a part of the Jal Vikas Marg Policy (JVMP) under which India is developing the Rs.4,200 crore NW1 from Haldia to Varanasi for navigation with assistance from the World Bank to be completed in six years.
Queries emailed to the spokespersons of DCI, DDIL and Adani Group on 6 December remained unanswered.
India has about 14,500km of navigable waterways which comprise of rivers, canals, backwaters and creeks, among others. According to IWAI, about 55 million tonne (MT) of cargo is being moved annually by inland water transport.
The National Democratic Alliance’s cargo traffic projections on NW1 by 2022 has been pegged at 21 MT with projections going up to 55 MT by 2025.
The government, under JVMP, is also developing three multi-modal transport terminals along the NW1 at Haldia in West Bengal, Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh and Sahibganj in Jharkhand.
According to Union minister of road transport, highways and shipping, Nitin Gadkari, the ministry has spent around Rs.80,000 crore for various projects aimed at modernising and mechanising the shipping sector.
Source: InfraCircle
