Inland Water Transport (IWT)

Rohan Rao.

In a metro like Mumbai, where 4,700 passengers are packed into a 9-car rake during peak hours, as against the rated carrying capacity of 1,700 and over 6 lakh vehicles on roads has lead to congestion; the road and rail transport system is facing an inevitable derangement. In such times, Inland Passenger Water Transport (IPWT) provides an effective alternative and hence the revival of IPWT is imminent.

A review on Inland water transportation was held at IEI, MSC premises at Mahalaxmi, Mumbai on 25th May. Mr. M.K. Banger, a consultant of international standing, delivered the lecture highlighting the importance of inland water transport in India.

“India has an extensive network of rivers, lakes and canals, which, if developed for shipping and navigation, can provide an efficient network of inland transportation. An optimal mix of road, rail and inland water transport will provide an efficient transport infrastructure with mobility, flexibility and cost effectiveness,” he opined. While the thrust so far has been in developing road and rail sectors, Government recognizes the need to actively promote the IWT sector for it to take a reasonable share in the inter-modal mix of inland transport.

Besides passenger transport, IWT also plays a major role in cargo movements. IWT is moving about 44 million tones of cargo annually. However, at present it forms a very small part of the total transport network. In terms of tonne kilometres of total inland cargo, its share is less than 1 per cent.

Inland water transport offers various advantages like being environmental friendly, reduction in congestion of road

traffic, significant savings in travel time due to increased speed and reduced delays because of no congestion problems, reduction in air and noise pollution along the existing corridors, diversion of traffic on water transport will provide relief to local roads in the high density areas.

However the contribution of Mumbai towards IWT in India; both in passenger and cargo transportation has been minimal. To make developments in this sector, Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) is entrusted with the development of IWT in Mumbai. The project will be concentrating primarily on public transportation. MSRDC has a project for development of IWT for Mumbai estimating to about 367 crores.

The project will cater an array of facilities and provide well-equipped terminal buildings for passengers with passenger amenities like waiting hall, cafeteria, restaurant, book stall etc, fire fighting and safety measures, adequate fresh water supply, power supply, navigational aids, communication system, appropriate berthing piers / pads for safe and efficient tying / mooring of crafts, embarking and disembarking at different states of water levels at different stages of tides, and all other facilities required for comforts of the passengers.

Of the five short listed BOOT agencies, two` agencies namely M/s. Four Seasons Marine and Air Services Ltd. And M/s. Satyagiri Shipping Co. Ltd had submitted the offers. Letter of Award has been issued to successful bidder M/s. Satyagiri Shipping Co. Ltd. with abid amount of Rs 1,012 crores in 2003.

The project covering Nariman Point, Bandra, Juhu (Near Holiday Inn), Versova, Marve, Borivali (Charkop) (For Maintenance & Repairs) and Borivali (Near Existing Jetty) on the West Coast of Mumbai is for proposed Passenger Water Transport System and estimated at around 300 crores.

On the eastern coast project, estimated to around 67 crores, the project includes development of facilities at Ferry Wharf on Mumbai side and Nerul on Navi Mumbai side.

The service will be provided with average waiting period of 15 minutes in peak hours & 30 minutes in non-peak hours for passengers. The passenger water transport service will be operated for minimum 300 days in a calendar year.It is expected to ferry about one-lakh passengers per day when this project is fully developed.

A consortium, led by Mumbai-based Satyagiri Shipping Co Ltd, which won the contract, is planning to bring high-speed hovercraft and catamarans with capacities to carry 60 to 300 people. It is planned to operate hovercrafts every 15 minutes during peak hours to whiz across the sea from Borivali to Nariman Point in just 50 minutes in air-conditioned hovercrafts at a speed of not less than 30 knots as against the average speed of buses, which is 12 to 15 km. per hour.

The project will be implemented on a ‘Built-Operate-Transfer’ (BoT) basis, with a 30-year lease. Initial estimates show that the services would carry one lakh people daily for a Rs130 one-way fare (from Borivali to Nariman Point) and would be operational 300 days a year.

The project financing as prepared by the consortium is in the final stages and waiting to be approved by Indian infrastructure institutions. However, its feasibility lies on the concession agreement between Satyagiri and the Maharashtra government. Satyagiri Shipping wants the project to made part of the Inland Water Transport (IWT) policy to get subsidies on fuel and reduction in import duties.

The Government of Maharashtra conceived the project to exploit the sea for mass transport in Mumbai in mid 1990’s.

In May 2006, the government finally obtains clearances from the Union Ministry of Environment and ForestsEven now in 2007; the government has not yet signed its concession agreement with the private consortium.

The Rs1400-crore, eco-friendly project, part of the Mumbai redevelopment plan, has been locked in bureaucratic intricacies and delays since the financial bids were opened in December 2003. The wait for ride on the waves has to wait a bit longer.

The reason for the latest delay is that they have just submitted to us the details of their new consortium members. They need time to evaluate the new consortium. The new team, apart from Satyagiri: Gammon India Ltd, in addition to Gammon Infrastructure (which was in the earlier consortium too), Tulip Star Hotels (in the place of Tulip Hospitality) and Uttam Galva Steel. Among those who opted out are Videocon and KJMC Financial Services.

The company has paid up a performance security bond of Rs 5 crore, but there's a better reason for early initiation of work. Diesel was Rs 27 a litre when Satyagiri Shipping bid for the project, its Rs 40 now according to Mr. Dinesh Joshi, Director of Satyagiri Shipping. And, with fuel and operating costs comprising about 35 per cent of their cost, further delays will be expensive. Already, since they bid for the project in 2003, cost has escalated by about Rs 200 crore, he estimates.

MoEF has cleared the environmental clearance for Bandra, Juhu, Versova and Borivali vide their letter dated 6th Dec 2005 and for Nariman Point and Marve vide communication dated 15th May 2006. 

Owing to population explosion and unidirectional commuting the existing rail and road corridors in Mumbai have become highly congested. Saturating transportation and collapsing infrastructure now demands immediate

measures to decongest and stabilize the systems. Passenger Water Transport facility will provide and effective alternative mode of mass transport systems on a sustainable basis at an affordable cost to the passengers.

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