Transport mode with great promise

Apart from cost advantages, inland water transport has also proved to have a strong multiplier effect on the economy, says V. S. Sambandan.

INLAND WATERWAYS, which hold out a tremendous potential for a nation's transportation sector, has been a hugely neglected sector in India. Once a vibrant mode of internal transport, the decline in the country's waterways is symbolic of the disregard at the policy level. As arteries of economic activity, inland waterways have been at the core of the growth of many a nation. If the rivers of the U.S. remain a part of that nation's vital resources, the waterways criss-crossing Europe are an integral part of that continent's economic resources.

In sharp contrast, India's inland waterways have remained grossly under-utilised. The nation's navigable waterways aggregate 14,544 km, of which 5,685 km are suitable for operation of mechanised craft. (5,200 km of major rivers and 485 km of canals). Yet, inland water transport (IWT) accounts for barely 0.15 per cent of the nation's freight movement.

In terms of cost advantages, a study by the National Council of Applied Economic Research has concluded that the per tonne km cost of transportation by inland waterways is 55 paise compared to Re. 1 by road. In advanced economies such as the U.S. and Europe, which enjoy the twin advantages of a long and continued usage of inland water transport and larger movement of cargo, the advantages of IWT have been well-documented. In the U.S., for instance, the average cost of water transport was 0.73 cents per ton-mile, compared to 2.49 cents per ton-mile through railways, the next lowest-cost transport.

Despite the economic and environmental advantages of IWT, if there has been slow progress on the nation's inland water front, it is a result of the lower priority accorded to it. Moreover, navigational hazards such as inadequate draft, siltation, bank erosion, lack of adequate infrastructure facilities such as terminals and the inadequacy of navigational aids, have compounded the problems in India.

Apart from cost advantages, IWT has proved to have a strong multiplier effect on the economy. According to studies in the U.S., for every $1 spent on IWT by the Government, the benefit to the public is $8. The benefits range from fuel costs saved to non-economic benefits such as spin-offs from tourism. From of environmental as well as safety angles, IWT systems have been placed more advantageously than roads or rails. Given the long- term nature of investments in the IWT sector, studies in the U.S. show that much of the cargo now transported in the waterways of that country are supported by capital expenditures made 25 or 50 years ago. This long-term nature of infrastructure investments, as well as advantages of an inherently natural monopoly are additional economic factors for largescale investments in the IWT sector in India.

Underutilised waterways

The IWT situation in India compares very poorly with those existing in other parts of the world. Grossly underutilised on account of infrastructure constraints, mechanised operations are restricted to a few locations of the nation's inland waterways - organised cargo transportation is confined to Goa, West Bengal, Assam and Kerala.

According to official figures, the total cargo moved by IWT in the country is about 20 million tonnes, which corresponds to just over 1.5 billion tonne km or 0.15 per cent of the total inland cargo of about 1,000 billion tonne-km. With a declining share of the railways in freight movement, the pressure on the road sector is evident. Clearly, any incremental investment in the waterways would pay well in terms of restructuring the nation's internal cargo movement.

The present IWT network in India consists of two categories: three systems which have been declared as national waterways and seven others for which techno-economic studies have been carried out and which have been found to have the potential to be declared as national waterways.

One area where there has been no dearth of attention accorded to the IWT, is in detailed studies. While the beginning was made in the Second Plan to bring out the potential of the nation's waterways, several committees and expert groups have since studied the problems of the sector. These include the Estimates Committee of Parliament (1956-57), the Gokhale Committee on IWT (1959), the Committee on Transport Policy and Co-ordination (1966), the Bhagwati Committee on IWT (1970), the Committee on National Waterways (1974) and the National Transport Policy Committee (1980). Based on their recommendations, the Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) was set up and three major waterways declared as National Waterways.

To qualify for a national waterway, the National Transport Policy Committee recommended that a system should (a) possess capability of navigation by mechanised propelled vessels of reasonable size; (b) should have about 45 m wide channel and minimum 1.5 m depth; (c) should be a continuous stretch of 50 km (the only exception to be made to waterway length is for urban conglomerations and intra-port traffic); (d) should pass through or serve the interests of more than one State or, should connect a vast and prosperous hinterland and major ports or, should pass through a strategic region where development of navigation is considered necessary to provide logistic support for national security or, should connect places not served by any other mode of transport.

The three waterways declared as National Waterways are the Ganges system, the Brahmaputra system and the West Coast Canal which runs across Kerala. Along with the seven other systems which have been found to have the potential to be declared as national waterways, the benefits from the IWT sector for the nation's economy would be immense.

However, the well-intentioned plans in this much-studied sector have been thrown astray on account of several constraints. Official apathy in translating the intentions to action is just one them. Inappropriate navigational support, poor turnaround times for the already low operating fleet and in some cases, inadequate traffic flow, are also issues that should be addressed.

While the Government's intention to amend the IWAI Act to enable the organisation to raise tax-free bonds is aimed at giving more financial flexibility, for the sector to succeed, there is the need to make judicious investment decisions. In addition to technical issues such as maintenance of the waterways systems, comprising a network of locks and other navigational facilities, economic issues such as pricing of the services, the extent of subsidy, if at all, and the nature of governmental investments should be addressed.

From an organisational point of view, the working of the Central Inland Water Transport Corporation, formed in 1967, also requires to be reviewed, especially given its status as a public sector undertaking. With increasing pressure to operate on commercial considerations, the organisation would have to be made more flexible. In addition, if the Government's plans to bring about a transformation in the IWT sector through its well-intentioned proposals for the remaining seven waterways, a great deal needs to be done in terms of decentralising decision making.

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