Commits Rs 45K crs for River Cruise Tourism

The maiden edition of Inland Waterways Development Council (IWDC) in Kolkata culminated with many firsts in an effort to ramp up capacity and augment viability of inland waterways of the country.

The meet, chaired by the Union Minister of Ports, Shipping & Waterways and Ayush, Mr Sarbananda Sonowal was attended by key stakeholders including ministerial representations from states as well as prominent stakeholders including policy makers and the industry leaders.

The meet, with an objective to enable inland waterways as conduits of economic growth and commerce in the country, committed an investment Rs 45,000 crore for development of river cruise tourism in the country.

Of this ambitious sum, an estimated Rs 35,000 crore has been earmarked for cruise vessels and another Rs 10,000 crore for development of cruise terminal infrastructure at the end of Amrit Kaal, i.e. by 2047. 

To ramp up inland waterways for cargo trade, an investment of Rs 15,200 crore was made at  GMIS held in Mumbai in October, 2023.

Mr Sonowal also launched ‘Harit Nauka’ guidelines and ‘River Cruise Tourism Roadmap, 2047’ at the inaugural session of IWDC in Kolkata recently.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr Sonowal said, The Inland Waterways Development Council was conceived with an objective to rejuvenate our rich, complex and dynamic waterways. 

At the IWDC, a roadmap was chalked to enable capacity in an additional 26 waterways, fit for River Cruise tourism from the operational strength of 8 waterways.