With the Centre and State according priority for the development of inland waterway to check automobile pollution and reduce congestion in the road corridors, declaration of the Colachel-Kasaragod stretch of the West Coast Canal as National Waterway III is imminent.
Of the 700 km inter-State coastal waterway with major port connectivity, the stretches declared as NW in Kerala so far are the Kollam-Kottapuram, Champakara/Udyogamandal, Kottapuram-Kozhikode, Kottayam-Changanacherry, Kottayam-Alappuzha and Athirampuzha-Kottayam-Alappuzha.
The stretch from Kozhikode to Kasaragod should be declared as NW to enable the Kovalam-Kasaragod corridor figure in NW III. Further, it can be extended to Colachel in Tamil Nadu.
“This should be the top priority while developing inland waterway and the State should secure full funding for it from the Centre,” said the former member, Technical, Inland Waterway Authority of India (IWAI), and Chairman, Working Group of the State Planning Board, R.M. Nair.
Along with this, the government should expedite the completion of Kollam-Kottapuram, Champakara/Udyogamandal stretch that was declared as NW III in 1993.
The need to expedite the development of the inland waterway assumes significance as Union Minister for Shipping and Road Transport Nitin Gadkari had proposed setting up of a ₹200-crore joint venture company with Tamil Nadu government for starting water transport from Kanyakumari to Chennai and from the southern end of the Peninsula to Thiruvananthapuram.
In the 18-point charter of demands submitted to Prime Minister Narendra Modi by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan in Kochi on Saturday, the State had demanded 50% of the cost to be incurred for the development of the inland waterway from Kovalam to Kasaragod.
With the NW III extension from Kovalam to Kollam and Kottapuram to Kasaragod, this will be an inter-State tidal waterway of over 700 km, parallel to the coast, coastal highway and rail. The Colachel-Kasaragod waterway can provide many solutions to the issues faced in the road corridors as it can absorb the freight traffic moving through road.
The State government is moving as per the LDF manifesto that highlights the need to develop inland waterways and feeder routes, port hinterland connectivity and high speed ferry and 5% cargo by Inland Water Transport in five years.
The former IWAI official said the financial support and commitment by the Centre for inland waterway development was a constitutional obligation and Kerala should push for complete Central funding rather than going for special purpose vehicle (spv) and sharing the cost as mooted by Mr. Gadkari.
The spv, joint venture and public private partnership as in the case of national highway stretches should be explored for individual projects of KSINC, development of locks to enable movement of bigger vessels and for land acquisition and land development for the inland waterway, he added.
