Pursuant to the ambitious waterways project launched by the Government of India, five waterways in India have been declared as National Waterways (NWs) so far. The five waterways which have been declared as NWs include:

(a) Ganga-Bhagirathi-Hooghly river system (Allahabad-Haldia-1620 km) as NW-1

(b) River Brahmaputra (Dhubri-Sadiya – 891 km) as NW-2.

(c) West Coast Canal (Kottapuram-Kollam) along with Udyogmandal and Champakara Canals – (205 km) as NW-3.

(d) Kakinada- Puducherry canals along with Godavari and Krishna rivers (1078 km) as NW-4.

(e) East Coast Canal integrated with Brahmani river and Mahanadi delta rivers (588 km) as NW-5.

Out of the aforesaid NWs, NW-1, NW-2 and NW-3 are partly operational in certain stretches there are certain amount of vessel movement through these NWs. NW-4 and NW-5 are yet to be made operational.

The draft National Perspective Plan (NPP), which has been issued under the Sagarmala Project, proposes to develop the NW-1, NW-2, NW-4 and NW-5 on priority basis in order to enhance port connectivity and for enabling faster and cheaper cargo movement including movement of crucial cargo such as coal, iron ore, food grains etc.

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