Inland Water Transport in Andhra Pradesh(APIWA) being strengthened

VIJAYAWADA : Around 8 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) is being moved through inland water transport in Andhra Pradesh, said AP Inland Waterways Authority (APIWA) Chairman Dilip Kumar Dantuluri.

Addressing the stakeholders during a meeting jointly organised by APIWA and AP Chambers here on Wednesday, Dilip Kumar explained the AP Inland Waterways Act and the emerging opportunities.

Asserting that the State government in its endeavour to boost inland water transport has set up an exclusive vertical Authority (APIWA) headed by a Chief Executive Officer for the development of waterways and for implementation of the Inland Vessel Act 2021 to ensure safe vessel movement, he said that various projects to facilitate movement of domestic and export-import cargo of cement and power plants in the State through inland waterways are under formulation.

“The cluster of cement industries located at Muktyala/Jaggayyapeta are connected to the network of inland waterways along Krishna River and Bandar Canal through Kakinada port and Machilipatnam port. On the other hand, the power plant in Kadapa region, which has IWT potential of nearly 14 MTPA (Coal, Cement, Gypsum, Bauxite), is connected to Penna river through Krishnapatnam port, integrating it with the coastal route,” he added.

He further informed that the other important projects include roll-on/roll-off services at Muktyala and Ibrahimpatnam on Krishna River, at Seethanagaram on Godavari River, water-bound tourism circuits on rivers and isolated water bodies.

Stating that Andhra Pradesh has about 57 small, medium and large rivers with huge river delta spread over the length and breadth of the State and a vast coastline of 975 km which could be tapped for immense port-led development by integrating Inland Water Transport (IWT) with coastal shipping, APIWA chief executive officer SVK Reddy said of these, eleven rivers/canals for a length of about 1,555 km is assessed to have potential for development as waterways for economic freight transport. About 978 km of this to be part of declared National Waterways, he added.

Earlier, Industries Minister Gudivada Amarnath through a video message explained the steps being taken up by the AP State government to develop inland waterways.