Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) today said it has awarded a contract to DST Germany for designing special vessels to navigate the 1,620-km stretch of National Waterways I (NW - 1).
In keeping with its objective of providing safe, environment-friendly and economical mode of transportation through NW-1, IWAI has signed a contract with DST, Germany on to design vessels, especially suited to navigate the 1620 km stretch of NW-1, IWAI said in a statement.
One of the most important navigational challenges for NW-1 is the kind of vessels that will ply on the Ganga-Bhagirathi-Hooghly stretch, it said.
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"Keeping in view the difficult hydro-morphological characteristics of the river in the upper reaches between Patna and Varanasi, it is important to have vessels which can ply on low draft, with high carrying capacity, and are economically viable and environment friendly," it said.
DST, Germany, a ship building company, which won the contract has been tasked with designing such vessels in three months from the time of the award of contract, it said.
"Considering the expected growth of the Inland Waterways sector in India, the company is expected to develop a number of standardised vessels to meet the requirement of various types of cargo," it said.
Thomas Guesnet, Senior Project Manager of DST Germany said, "We at DST in Germany are very proud to be associated with IWAI. Navigation here in Indian rivers is not easy, and therefore the ships that are to be designed have to be specially made keeping in view the low draft and multiplicity of the volume of the cargo."
IWAI had received 17 Expression of Interest (EoI) from various reputed firms, and DST, Germany won the contract after a tough and rigorous procurement process.
The Government is developing NW-1 under the Jal Marg Vikas Project, with assistance from the World Bank at an estimated cost of Rs 4,200 crore.
The project would enable commercial navigation of vessels with capacity of 1500-2,000 tonnes.
Phase-I of the project covers the Haldia-Varanasi stretch. The project includes development of fairway, Multi-Modal Terminals at Varanasi, Haldia, and Sahibganj, strengthening of river navigation system, conservancy works, modern River Information System (RIS), Digital Global Positioning System (DGPS), night navigation facilities, modern methods of channel marking, construction of a new state of the art navigational lock at Farakka etc.
NW-1 is a waterway of national significance passing through Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal, potentially serving the major cities of Haldia, Howrah, Kolkata, Bhagalpur, Patna, Ghazipur, Varanasi, Allahabad and their industrial hinterlands including several industries located along the Ganga basin.
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