Union Minister Sarbananda Sonowal informed that cargo handling capacity has reached 133 million metric tonnes in the last ten years. Sonowal was addressing the 2nd Inland Waterways Development Council (IWDC) meeting in Kaziranga a day earlier.

He said “In the last 10 years, our cargo handling capacity has reached 133 million metric tonnes… More than Rs 60,000 crores of investment have been made in our National Waterways… In the inaugural session of the Inland Waterways Development Council, we inaugurated projects worth Rs 1400 crores for 21 states of our country.”

“We aim to increase our cargo capacity to 200 million metric tonnes by 2030 and invest more than Rs 50,000 crore in this sector in the next 5 years…,” the minister added.

The IWDC, the apex body for policy deliberation on the promotion & propagation of inland waterways in India, witnessed major announcements to boost infrastructure along national waterways on Friday.

The meeting also witnessed ministerial participation from the Union Minister of State for MoPSW, Shantanu Thakur, the Ports Minister of Goa, Aleixo Sequeira, the Transport Minister of Assam, Jogen Mohan; the Transport Minister of Manipur, Khashim Vashum; the Transport Minister of Jammu & Kashmir, Satish Sharma; the Transport Minister of Mizoram, Pu Vanlalhlana and the Transport Minister of Arunachal Pradesh, Ojing Tasing among others.

The second meeting of IWDC, organised by the Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI), the nodal agency for the development of waterways under the Ministry of Ports, Shipping & Waterways (MoPSW), announced investments of more than Rs 50,000 crore in the next 5 years.

In this regard, a series of new initiatives across 21 Inland Waterway States were announced worth more than Rs 1400 crore in Kaziranga on Friday.

IWDC set up in 2023 is an exercise to derive the maximum economic potential out of the Inland Water bodies, it requires exceptionally coordinated Centre-State relationships, collaborations and cooperation in the spirit of Cooperative Federalism.

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