‘Inland Waterways’ is economically most viable sector and, as such, it should be an integral part of infrastructure development in India.
This was stated by Minister of Road Transport, Highways and Shipping, Shri Nitin Gadkari, in his inaugural address at the ‘National Conference on Inland Waterways: Issues, Options and Strategies’ in New Delhi yesterday.
He added that development of inland waterways would lower the logistics cost of production and, in turn, make the prices of the products more competitive in the global market.
Mentioning the growing enthusiasm among investors for the PPP model in road sector, Gadkari said that the possibility of applying this model in inland waterways sector is being studied.
He further said that feasibility of joint ventures are also being explored as central and state governments have to work together to bring this sector in the forefront of infrastructure development. Gadkari also expressed the hope that the Bill for declaration of 101 waterways as National Waterways would have the passage in the forthcoming session of the Parliament.