NEW DELHI: Around Rs 50,000 crore will be invested in development and improvement of inland waterways in the coming five years, the port, shipping and waterways ministry announced on Friday. Nearly 50 per cent of this will be spent on development of new waterways and green shipping, it said.
The investments were firmed up at a meeting of Inland Waterways Development Council chaired by Union shipping minister Sarbananda Sonowal Friday. The ministry said a Riverine Community Development Scheme was mooted at a meeting to improve the socio-economic well-being of coastal communities by developing infrastructure, promotion of trade and tourism along with riverine ecosystem.
Sonowal announced that the success of Kochi’s Water Metro project will be expanded to 15 cities including Guwahati. He also said that six floating steel jetties will be built on the river Godavari (NW 4) at Gandipochamma Temple, Pochavaram, Perantapalli village in Andhra Pradesh.
