Focus on the development of waterways ups Kerala’s hopes

KOCHI: State’s ambitious project to develop inland waterways for facilitating cargo movement is expected to get a boost with the Union Budget-2019 envisioning the use of rivers to transport cargo for decongesting roads and railways. Through the Jal Marg Vikas project, the Budget aims at capacity augmentation of navigation on National Waterways to smoothen internal trade carried via inland water transport. Experts feel while the Budget’s focus on inland waterways is a positive development, much needs to be done to develop the state’s waterways for cargo movement.

“The development of inland waterways for cargo movement will improve logistics, reducing the cost of transportation. However, we need better infrastructure for utilising the waterways. Though Kerala has a good network of rivers, many of them are not conducive for movement of barges or vessels. Their shallowness is the main challenge. Only through periodic maintenance, mainly dredging, can the rivers be used for container movement as envisaged in the Budget,” said Prasanth Nair, MD, Kerala Shipping and Inland Navigation Corporation Ltd.

Managing director of Kottayam Port and Container Terminal Services Pvt Ltd Abraham Varghese said the Budget gives hope to those looking to invest more in the logistics vertical, mainly waterways.