West Bengal to revamp river transport & tourism with WB assistance
Following the announcement of National Water Ways by the Union Ministry, the West Bengal government has initiated a project to enhance its river transport and tourism potential with a $151 million (Rs 1,021 crore) World Bank assistance.
Rs 5,369 crore worth Ganga Jal Marg project of the Union Ministry will facilitate cargo movement along the National Waterway-I from Varanasi to Haldia. Accordingly, the state government aims at optimizing the potential of river transport both for cargo and human movements.
Ro-Ro service (Roll-on/roll-off) is one of the popular means of transport in Kolkota for shipping wheeled cargo, such as cars, trucks, semi-trailer trucks, trailers etc. With the aid of the World Bank, the state government is planning to add 10 Ro-Ro ferry services in the National Waterway, which go through the state for a length of 560km. Each Ro-Ro-facility will have an estimated cost of Rs 25 crore including specialised jetty and vessel.
Photo Courtesy – Deccan Chronicle
A separate scheme, outside the scope of the World Bank project, is launched to revamp the three existing Ro-Ro facilities around the ‘Sunderban’ area. The government is also planning to build two more bridges on Ganga to enhance connectivity.
56 modern jetties will be built at a cost of Rs 4 crore each and 24 existing jetties along the 156-km stretch from Haldia to Triveni will be renovated under World Bank assistance. For the efficient operation of the ferry, around 320 new vessels will be added into service. A separate plan is in pipeline to modernise jetties from Triveni in Hooghly to Farakka, in the North, using State funds.
Plans are also initiated to have a regulatory authority for the ferry service, to integrate the different departments or civic bodies and make an umbrella body to monitor and regulate the currently scattered ferry services and the related activities.
The government plans to buy 50 water taxis and four cruise vessels to promote river based tourism and entertainment activities, using part of the World Bank assistance. West Bengal has almost one sixth of the country’s waterway network. It offers an immense opportunity to promote water based tourism and leisure activities. Currently some of the private parties are operating in this sector. The state government is also plan to add new cruise circuits to enhance the tourism potential along Ganga.