Govt To Seek Private Role In Inland Water Transport

Union law, justice and company affairs minister Arun Jaitley today released the document for the inland water transport policy that the government recently adopted.

The minister said that the government had decided to seek private participation in a big way to boost the inland water transport, while inaugurating a day-long national-level interactive meet on the development of inland water transport, organised by the Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) and Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Ficci).

India had 14,500 km of navigable inland waterways which could be harnessed to provide fuel-efficient, environment-friendly and cost-effective alternative modes of transportation both for freight and tourism traffic, he said.

At present, only one per cent of the total traffic is inland water transport-based.

Jaitley further said that the government would be the facilitator as the new policy created a conducive environment with attendant incentives for a meaningful participation by the private sector, with the new fiscal regime and a lot more incentives.

He also called for active participation of state governments along with the private sector so that the three players, the Centre, states and the private sector, together, could generate large employment opportunities.