Re-Booting Inland Waterways Transport in India

In March 2016, the National Waterways Act was passed by the upper house of the Parliament, increasing the number of national waterways across the country from the earlier 6 to 111.

In the last three years despite seeing numerous inaugurations, photo opportunities by politicians, things haven’t changed much in regard to Inland water transportation, both for the passenger or the cargo segment. And even where new vessels have been pressed into action, factors like bureaucratic tussles rendered their services in a complete fiasco as in the case of RoRo Ferries in Kerala or poor design and construction as in the case of RoRo ferries in Assam. In another case, small electrical boats in Varanasi have been returned within months, due to lack of charging facilities.

The overambitious plan for the revival and modernization of the Indian Waterways has been flawed from day one and has overlooked or ignored almost all the critical factors determining the viability of a river or inland water transportation system. Instead of first learning from successful river restoration and river transport revival projects like the Pasig river Water taxis and Ferries in Manila, or the extensive river transport infrastructure of China or Russia, who's many rivers resemble those in India and present similar challenges, the authorities preferred to look towards Europe.

Without proper studies, the entire future of the Inland Waterways Transport project is in doldrums. And yet the project badly needs to be developed but with a firm re-boot, with a clear perspective of priorities, vessel design, commercial viability and what really can and needs to be done.

About the Speaker:

Though deeply involved in the field of Inland Water Transport, Mr. Ravi Deka is not a marine professional by education or designation. From his earlier stints as a Director of a Metallurgical plant in Goa and later a CEO of Fuel processing unit in Delhi, Ravi Deka got into this field after seeing the pathetic and unsafe conditions of river vessels in his home State of Assam, as well in the rest of India.

He has been actively lobbying for change for over half a decade for ushering in newer vessels like FRP Catamarans as safer, fuel efficient alternatives to the earlier generation of metal ferries as well as specialized watercraft like Jetboats and Hovercraft. He has contributed to numerous projects on water transportation in Russia. He regularly writes on various topics related to Inland waterways and is often consulted by government and industry on this subject.