In a major initiative to promote inland water transport, the shipping ministry is readying a plan to focus on greater adoption of greener vessels. The transition of vessels to ply on green energy is likely to cost around Rs 15,000 crore over the next 10 years.
Sources said the guidelines for this programme will be unveiled at the Inland Waterway Development Council (IWDC) meeting on Monday. They added that the scheme would be almost similar to the FAME scheme for promotion of electric vehicles. To begin with, port authorities and the government will provide support for around 1,000 vessels, ferries and tug boats.
Currently, ferries plying on inland waterways and tug boats run on diesel. There will be incentives to switch these to green energy. While the transition will be easy for vessels deployed at ports, it would be tough in the case of vessels operating in inland waterways.
Officials said the first meeting of the IWDC in Kolkata next week will bring all states together to prepare a roadmap for holistic planning of national and state waterways, and how to interlink them. “This is important considering that operation of vessels on rivers passing through different states need better coordination. Around three dozen inland waterway routes have been identified for operating river cruises. We need to have a better system in place among states and the Centre for their success,” said an official.
He added that there has to be more focus on developing waterways as this is the greenest and cheapest mode of transport for cargo.
The IWDC will be similar to the Maritime State Development Council (MSDC) which focuses on development of ports and coastal states.
