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Jal Marg Vikas Project : Civil Services Mentor Magazine: FEBRUARY - 2018

::Jal Marg Vikas Project::

Inland Water Transport (IWT) is a much more energy efficient and economically viable mode of transport then road and rail mode of transport. Internationally also Inland water transport is regarded as most energy efficient mode of bulk transport. Inland water transport also has a great employment potential, in a country like India where so many rivers runs across the year Inland water transport is great potential.On top of it the Inland water transport can help in solving the unemployment problem in India as well.

The Government of India has thus set up Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI), a statutory body under Ministry of Shipping in 1986 with the responsibility of regulation and development of National Waterways in the country for shipping and navigation.Ganga-Bhagirathi-Hooghly river system from Allahabad to Haldia was declared as National Waterway No.1 video National Waterway (Allahabad-Haldia stretch of the Ganga Bhagirathi- Hooghly river) Act 1982 (49 of 1982). It became operative from 27th Oct 1986 after the formation of the IWAI. The waterway extends from Haldia to Allahabad for a distance of 1620 kms.

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has given its approval for implementation of the Jal Marg Vikas Project (JMVP) for capacity augmentation of navigation on National Waterway-1 (NW-1) at a cost of Rs 5369.18 crore with the technical assistance and investment support of the World Bank. The Project is expected to be completed by March, 2023.

Major Impact:

Alternative mode of transport that will be environment friendly and cost effective. The project will contribute in bringing down the logistics cost in the country.
Mammoth Infrastructure development like multi-modal and inter-modal terminals, Roll on - Roll off (Ro-Ro) facilities, ferry services, navigation aids.
Socio-economic impetus; huge employment generation.

No. of beneficiaries:

NW-1 development & operations will lead to direct employment generation to the tune of 46,000 and indirect employment of 84,000 will be generated by vessel construction industry.

States/districts covered

States: Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal
Major Districts: Varanasi, Ghazipur, Ballia, Buxar, Chhapra, Vaishali, Patna, Begusarai, Khagaria, Munger, Bhagalpur, Sahibganj, Musrhidabad, Pakur, Hoogly, Kolkata.

Project details:

Funding pattern: IBRD loan component: Rs. 2, 512 crore (US$ 375 million).
Government of India counterpart funds: Rs. 2,556 crore (US$ 380 million), to be sourced from budgetary allocation and proceeds from bond issue.
Private sector participation under PPP mode: Rs. 301 crore (US$45 million).
However there are many challenges to the in implementing this project, some of the important ones include low depth upstream of Farakka other problem includes environmental challenges. Important challenges among others are mentioned below:
One of the major problems for a commercially viable and safe navigation on NW-1 is low depth upstream of Farakka due to low discharges from tributaries and difficult hydro morphological characteristics of river Ganga.
A pilot study on the Allahabad-Ghazipur stretch was commissioned by Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) to find solutions to this problem.
Based on the findings of this study, a proposal for development of NW-1 at an estimated cost of Rs. 4,200 crore (US$ 700 million) was taken up for seeking technical assistance and investment support from the World Bank to the tune of US$ 350 million in three Phases.
Finance Minister announced JMVP in Budget Speech in July 2014, to enable commercial navigation of at least 1500 tonnes vessels in Ganga.

Funding Pattern:

IBRD loan component: Rs. 2, 512 crore (US$ 375 million).
Government of India counterpart funds: Rs. 2, 556 crore (US$ 380 million), to be sourced from budgetary allocation and proceeds from bond issue.
Private sector participation under PPP mode: Rs. 301 crore (US$45 million).

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Details and progress of scheme already running:

(A) Construction of multi-modal terminal at Varanasi: Contract for construction of Phase-I (A) of the terminal at an estimated cost of Rs.169.59 crore awarded in May, 2016. Physical progress of work: 25%.

(B) Construction of multi-modal terminal at Haldia: Contract awarded for constructing a Rs 517.36 crore state-of-the-art multi-modal terminal at Haldia, West Bengal. Work initiated.

(C) Construction of multi-modal terminal at Sahibganj: Contract for construction of phase-I (A) of the terminal at an estimated cost of Rs. 280.90 crore awarded in October, 2016. Physical progress of work: 25.62%

(D) Construction of a new navigation lock at Farakka Barrage:Contract for construction of a new navigation lock at an estimated cost of Rs 359.19 crore awarded in November, 2016. Physical progress: 22.30%

(E) Least Assured Depth (LAD): Tender process for fairway development through Performance Based Maintenance Dredging Contract for Provision of Least Assured Depth and quantity based dredging to provide a depth of 2.2 m to 3 metres between Farakka and Varanasi is being completed for awarding.

(F) Development of Kolkata and Patna terminals under PPP mode: In order to scale up private investment in the IWT sector, IWAI has identified Kolkata terminal (GR Jetty-1, GR Jetty-II and BISN) and Patna terminal (Gaighat and Kalughat) for their development and operation under the Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) mode.

(G) Construction of Ro-Ro terminals: Locations: Rajmahal and Manikchak;Samdaghat and Manihari;Kahalgaon and Tintanga;Hasnapur and Bakhtiyarpur; and Buxar and Saraikota.

(H) Ferry terminals in six cities : Contract awarded to a joint venture of Thompson Design Group (TDG), Boston (USA) and Infrastructure Architecture Lab of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) (USA) in December 2016 for identifying suitable locations for construction of ferry terminals in six cities - Varanasi, Patna, Bhagalpur, Munger, Kolkata and Haldia on NW-1.

(I) Design of inland vessels: IWAI in August, 2016 signed a contract with M/s DST, Germany to design vessels, especially suited to navigate on NW-1. Consultancy completed with submission of stipulated 13 designs. Designs accepted by the Vetting Committee. Vessel testing is going on.

(J) River Information Services (RIS) on National Waterway -1: IWAI has taken up a technologically challenging project of setting up of River Information Service System on NW-1 for the first time in India. River Information System (RIS) are equipment, hardware and software information technology (IT) related services designed to optimize traffic and transport processes in inland navigation.

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