The Ganga- Bhagirathi-Hooghly between Allahabad - Haldia (1620 km) in UP, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal, the Sadiya-Dhubri stretch of river Brahmaputra (891 km) in Assam and the Kollam - Kottapuram stretch of West Coast Canal along with Champakara and Udyogmandal Canals (205 km) in Kerala have so far been declared as national Waterways and are being developed for navigation by IWAI.

Two New National Waterway

• Two new waterways have recently been declared by the Government to be National Waterways No. 4 and 5. These are:
  
  (i) the Kakinada-Puducherry stretch of Canals and the Kaluvelly Tank, Bhadrachalam - Rajahmundry stretch of River Godavari and Wazirabad - Vijayawada stretch of River Krishna (NW-4, 1095 km); and

  (ii) the Talcher- Dhamra stretch of river Brahmani, Geonkhali- Charbatia stretch of East Coast Canal, Charbatia- Dhamra stretch of Matai river and Mangalgadi-Paradip stretch of Mahanadi delta rivers (NW-5, 623 km).
  " Gazette notifications for both these waterways were published on 25.11.2008.
  

Salient features of National Waterway No. 4 - Godavari & Krishna rivers & Canals between Kakinada and Puducherry (NW-4)

Declared as National Waterway 4 (NW 4) on 25.11.2008
Detailed Project Report (DPR) prepared by M/s. WAPCOS
Total Length - 1027 km.

River portion (328 km),
Irrigation canals (302 km)
salt water canals (397 km)

Estimated Cost (at 2009 prices)- Rs 1515 Cr
Phase - 1 - Rs. 609 crore
Development of stretch comprising of Godavari & Krishna rivers, and Kakinada & Eluru canals, which has maximum cargo potential, at an estimated cost of Rs.390 Crore & land acquisition for remaining stretch at an estimated cost of Rs.219 crore

Phase - 2 - Rs .906 crore
Development of North & South Buckingham Canal, Commamur canal & Kaluvelly Tank at an estimated cost of Rs.906 crore

Period of Completion - 7 years

Land Acquisition

in Tamil Nadu - 300 Ha
in Andhra Pradesh -1380 Ha
in Puducherry - 27 Ha
Estimated cost of land acquisition - Rs. 391 Crore

Details of dredging:
in canals - 20 million cum at an estimated cost of Rs. 333 Crore

Potential Cargo - 11 million tonne per annum
Coal on Godavari river,
cement on Krishna river
rice in both Krishna and Godavari

EIRR
Phase - I 34.63%
Entire waterway 16.12%

For Executive Summary of DPR Click here

Salient features of National Waterway No. 5 - Brahmani river & Mahanadi delta system along with East Coast Canal (NW-5)

Declared as National Waterway 5 (NW 5) on 25.11.2008

Detailed Project Report (DPR) prepared by M/s. WAPCOS

Length - 588 km.
River portion (371 km)
Canal portion (217 km)

Estimated Cost (at 2009 prices)
(i) Cost for development of River portion Rs. 2230 cr (Barrages- 1843 cr)
(ii) Cost of development of canal portion Rs. 1979 cr (Dredging- 1273 cr)
(iii) Total Cost Rs. 4209 crore

Period of Completion - 7 years
Land Acquisition:
in West Bengal - 846 Ha
in Orissa - 1172 Ha required
Estimated cost of land acquisition - Rs. 176 Crore

Details of dredging
River portion - 10.07 million cum
Canal portion - 44.77 million cum

Barrages
To maintain LAD of 2 m in the Brahmani river all through the year, 5 barrages with height equal to the highest flood level are proposed to be constructed at every 26 km between Talcher and Jokadia. Each barrage will have a navigational lock to allow passage of two 500 tonne vessels at a time.

Cargo potential
Coal from Talcher to Dhamra and Paradip ports is the most important potential cargo for this waterway. Immediately after the development of the waterway, it is estimated in the DPR that about 11 million tonne of cargo can be transported per year which can go up to 23 million tonne in next 15 years or so.

EIRR
River portion 31.77%
Canal portion 12.75%
Rive and canal together 23.75%

For Executive Summary of DPR Click here