Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru (MS)

Mangaluru, Dec 30: Central government has approved the Detailed Project Report (DPR) submitted by Tractebel Engineering Private Limited to the Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) with regards to developing the shipping activities and inland waterways transportation in the rivers of Karnataka state.

Once all the formalities are completed, IWAI is going to call for tenders. If all the processes are completed within the planned time-frame, then by December 2018, the waterways of the state including Gurpur and Nethravati rivers will be functional for shipping and transportation activities.

As per the project, if the national waterways are developed in the rivers of Gurpur, Kabini, Kali, Nethravati and Sharavati, then the areas which come under the limits of these waterways will get the transportation facility of passengers from one place to another through cruise ships and also cargo transportation activities. In addition to this, it will be possible to have cruise and shipping of goods to the neighbouring state of Andhra and Telangana.

Cheap mode of transport

"Transportation by waterways is considerably cheaper in comparison to other modes. The dangers involved are also less compared to transportation by sea route. We had only 'Kadavu service' in our state to go from one bank to another of any river. However, the proposed plan will bring a new age in the transport system," says T S Rathod, an officer in Ports and Inland Water Transport Department.