Govt doesn’t want inland waterway terminals to rival major ports for business

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Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. New Delhi: The government plans to restrict development of inland waterway terminals (IWTs) near major ports to protect the economic interests of these ports. From now on, such development will need a no-objection certificate (NoC) from the major port authority involved.

The plan is to expedite the development of IWTs, which are important riverine arteries for inland shipping and navigation, but also ensure that they complement seaports rather than compete with them, officials in the ministry of ports, shipping and waterways said. The change has been introduced in a new regulation for the development of IWTs along national waterways. India is developing 111 national waterway (NW) systems covering over 20,000km—only five of them are operational, while 106 were added in 2016.

Also read | Amazon inks pact with Inland Waterways Authority to boost delivery service There are around 50 IWTs at the moment, but as the new approved waterways are readied for cargo handling, many more terminals will be needed. Several of the upcoming and some of the existing NWs touch the country’s 12 major ports. For instance, NW1 on the Ganges touches Haldia port in West Bengal, while NW3 is close to the major port at Kochi in Kerala.

The other major ports are Paradip, Kandla, Jawaharlal Nehru Port, Mormugao, Mangalore, Mumbai, Tuticorin, Chennai, Thoothukkudi and Visakhapatnam. According to regulations issued by the ministry this week, no NoC shall be granted by the Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) for development of a terminal within “the limits" of major ports—an area of operation in the sea or the route that is used by ships to dock in and move out from the port. The new regulations make it