The National Inland Navigation Institute (NINI), Patna, will soon begin training programmes in the construction of fibre-reinforced plastic (FRP) boats, marking a first for Bihar where such boats are not currently manufactured.
NINI project director Dr (Capt) Inderveer Solanki said that although FRP boats are produced in cities such as Goa, Chennai, Kolkata, Odisha, Noida and Roorkee, Bihar—despite its extensive river network—has no local manufacturing capacity. At present, FRP boats used in the state are sourced from outside.
Operating under the Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI), NINI currently trains professionals in operating FRP boats. The upcoming course, scheduled to start in March, will focus on construction and is expected to generate employment and enable local manufacturing within the state.
FRP boats are lighter than traditional wooden boats, widely used for speedboats, and are more cost-effective, requiring minimal repairs for up to 10 years. Solanki noted that waterways transport is cheaper and more environmentally friendly than road and rail, and can ease the movement of sand, vegetables and heavy goods, helping reduce traffic congestion and road accidents.
Bihar has around 1,550 river ghats, offering significant potential for inland water transport. NINI plans to train batches of 25–30 people to construct boats of around 10 metres in length. Each boat is expected to take about four months to build, with construction materials sourced from Kolkata and Mumbai.
The initiative was recently presented to Rural Development and Transport Minister Shrawan Kumar, who is scheduled to attend the third meeting of the Inland Waterways Development Council in Kochi on Friday to discuss opportunities and challenges related to waterways in Bihar. The minister also undertook a water metro journey from Gaighat to Digha Ghat to assess the feasibility of expanding river transport in the state.