The NDA government is taking the initiative to develop inland waterways as a cost effective mode of transport of commercial goods, Visakhapatnam MP and BJP State president K. Haribabu said.
Addressing media in Visakhapatnam on Saturday, he said that the National Waterway IV that runs along the Coromandel Coast connecting Kakinada and Puducherry would be developed by the Inland Waterways Authority of India. A consultative meet on the subject under the leadership of Minister of Urban Development M. Venkaiah Naidu is being organised in Vijayawada on Sunday.
Minister of State for Road Transport, Highways and Shipping P. Radhakrishnan and officials from departments concerned would participate in the consultation meeting and presentation. MPs from six coastal districts of the State through which the NW-IV would traverse have been invited for the meeting.
A Public Sector Enterprise consultant organisation WAPCOS has reported that there is scope for 11 million tonnes cargo to be carried by the NW-IV annually. It could transport cargo like coal, rice, food grains, cement, fertilisers, forest produce, salt and other bulk cargo at a fraction of the cost incurred in its transport through rail or road, he said.
WAPCOS had estimated that the project would cost Rs. 1,515 crore, which revised at present prices is likely to cost Rs. 2,400 crore.
The project is expected to not only provide an economical mode of transport but also catalyze the growth of the economy of the villages en route.
The MP listed out a number of projects that he had pushed through at the Centre for the development of the city and the region and noted that there was a need for greater push for the projects from the State government.
The MP is organising a consultative meet on Monday on beach erosion calling academics, industries involved in maritime construction and representatives from Visakhapatnam Port Trust, Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation and Visakhapatnam Urban Development Authority. After the consultation a proposal with concrete suggestions for stopping beach erosion would be submitted to the Government, he said. He was accompanied by BJP city unit president P.V. Narayana Rao and former city unit president M. Nagender.
