write about modernization of water transport in India.
At least 20 lines
Answers
Answer:
We live in a very connected world. Can you imagine if you couldn’t talk to your friends whether they lived in your building or thousands of miles away? Or if you couldn’t go to your favourite holiday location because there were no means of transport? Latest innovations and inventions have made such concerns invalid. Let us learn about transport and communication.
Explanation:
India has yet to develop this cheaper and greener mode of transportation. Goods still travel by congested road and rail networks, slowing the movement of cargo, adding to uncertainties, and increasing the costs of trade. So much so that logistics costs in India are estimated to account for as much as 18 percent of the country’s GDP.
Until about a hundred years ago, the Ganga river, too, was a busy waterway. But with the coming of the railways, this watercourse fell into disuse. The Government of India is now reviving the Ganga watercourse – known as National Waterway 1 or NW1- to ferry cargo from the eastern seaport of Haldia to Varanasi, some 1,360 km inland. The waterway has the potential to emerge as the leading logistics artery for northern India.
The waterway’s stretch between Kolkata and Delhi passes through one of India’s most densely populated areas. A sizeable forty percent of all India’s traded goods either originate from this resource-rich region or are destined for its teeming markets. While the region is estimated to generate about 370 million tonnes of freight annually, only a tiny fraction of this - about 5 million tonnes - currently travels by water.
Currently, cargo from the Gangetic states of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh takes circuitous land routes to reach the sea ports of Mumbai in Maharashtra and Kandla in Gujarat, rather than going to the much-closer port at Kolkata. The development of NW1 will help these states direct some of their freight to the Kolkata-Haldia complex, making the movement of freight more reliable and reducing logistics costs significantly.
The World Bank is financing the development of the Ganga waterway with a loan of $ 375 million. The Capacity Augmentation of National Waterway 1 Project will help put in place the infrastructure and services needed to ensure that NW1 emerges as an efficient transport artery in this important economic region.
Once operational, the waterway will form part of the larger multi-modal transport network being planned along the river. It will link up with the Eastern Dedicated Rail Freight Corridor, as well as with the area’s existing network of highways. This web of water, road and rail arteries will help the region’s industries and manufacturing units switch seamlessly between different modes of transport as they send their goods to markets in India and abroad. Farmers in the agriculturally-rich Gangetic plain will also benefit, as the waterway opens up markets further afield.