Panel set up to scale up PPP mode in inland waterways

The government has constituted a committee headed by secretary, Planning Commission, to scale up private investment in the inland waterways sector.

The committee will have secretary to the ministry of shipping, director general of Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) and a representative of department of economic affairs as members.

The committee will identify new areas for private investment, both in infrastructure and in transportation. It will also identify multiple business models, which could then be bid out through concessions. The committee has also been tasked with designing Model Concession Agreements (MCA) and other standardised documents for facilitating a rapid scaling up of investment.

The committee will assess the investment potential of the sector and come up with approaches and proposals for scaling up private investment in inland waterways. It will also suggest mechanisms to have standardised MCAs prepared quickly for possible areas of investment.

Since January, the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) has identified and fast-tracked implementation of key projects in the National Waterways - 1, 2 and 3 (NW - 1,2,3). These are the Varanasi- Haldia stretch of the Ganga (NW-1), the Brahmaputra in Assam (NW-2) and the inland stretch in Kerala (NW-3). IWAI has since moved forward on large-scale private investments to transport coal and fertiliser on NW-1, foodgrains and coal on NW-2 and a lot of cargo on NW-3.

The development and regulation of the waterways, which are declared as national waterways are under the purview of central government, while the other waterways remain under the purview of the respective state governments.