Centre to develop 37 km of National Waterway in Chennai

The Centre today said it has decided to develop 37 km of the National Waterway-four (NW-4) between Sholinganallur to Kalpakkam in South Buckingham Canal in Tamil Nadu, entailing Rs 123 crore expenditure.
"Launching the project the Minister of Shipping G K Vasan said that the main components of the project include dredging and excavation to develop navigational channel, construction of three terminals and navigational locks, replacement of one existing bridge at Kelambakkam, and installation of navigational aids," an official statement said.
The central government has sanctioned over Rs 123 crore for the purpose and the project is expected to be completed in two years, it said.

Vasan said the other stretches of the National Waterway-4, which cover the states of Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, would also be taken up for development subsequently.
NW-4 covers a total length of 1,078 Km consisting of Kakinada-Puducherry canal systems integrated with Godavari and Krishna Rivers.
Also inaugurating an office of the Inland Waterways Authority of India at the campus of the Indian Maritime University in Chennai today, the minister said the project will ease out the transportation problems in Chennai suburbs to a great extent besides promoting tourist movement to important tourist spots at Mahabalipuram and Puducherry.

The development of South Buckingham Canal can also improve the drainage system during flood season in Chennai city.

The statement said the canal will be developed to make it suitable for safe navigation of cargo vessels up to 300 tonne capacity for transportation of general cargo like food grain, fertilisers, building materials, etc.
The canal shall also be suitable for movement of the passenger and tourist vessels of higher capacity from Chennai to Mahabalipuram and in future upto Puducherry and vice versa.
The terminals at Shollinganallur, Mutukkad and Mahabalipuram have been planned for construction and will be operated with necessary facilities for cargo, passenger and tourist vessels, it added.