NEW DELHI: Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) today made public 13 standardised ship designs suitable for large barge haulage on the Ganga river, the government said.
"This marks attaining of a critical milestone in the growth of the country's inland water transport sector as it will help overcome the unique navigation challenges river Ganga throws due to its complex river morphology, hydraulics, acute bends, shifting channels, meanders and current," the shipping ministry said in a statement.
"It will serve as an enabler for domestic shipbuilding industry working on inland vessels and open huge possibilities for cargo and passenger movement on National Waterway-1," the statement said.
The Government is implementing Jal Marg Vikas Project (JMVP) for capacity augmentation of navigation on NW-1-- Varanasi-Haldia stretch--at a cost of Rs 5,369 crore with the technical assistance and investment support of the World Bank.
Even as the work on JMVP is going on in full steam, the specially designed vessels will navigate on low drafts with high carrying capacity and at the same time, environment-friendly.
For the shipbuilding industry, the new designs will translate into a savings of Rs 30-50 lakhs in the building of a vessel.
Available free on the IWAI website, the designs will remove ambiguity on the class and type of vessels that can sail on river Ganga with efficient manoeuvrability.
They will help shipyards build vessels of standardised dimensions and capacity and make them available off the shelf beside developing the 'sale and purchase' market for inland vessels.
The designs will lead to reduced fuel costs and in turn lesser logistics costs.