The government has proposed to make amendments to the Central Road Fund Act, 2000, to insert ‘national waterways’ into the Act.
What are the provisions?
The Central Road Fund Act pertains to the CR Fund which is made up of cess on petrol and high speed diesel.
The cess is at present in the rate of Rs 6 per litre.
The amendment seeks to allocate a part of this cess to fund the National Waterways (NWs) project.
Under the provisions of the bill, an allocation of 2.5% of CRF proceeds would go for funding the waterways project.
What are the benefits?
The National Waterways (NWs) Act, 2016 aimed at developing and maintaining the existing five NWs and 106 new NWs across the country.
However, the implementation is not in full swing with challenges in funding for the infrastructure such as jetties, terminals, and navigational channels.
An allocation of 2.5% of CRF proceeds would provide approximately Rs2,000 crore per annum for the development and maintenance of NWs.
It ensures a sustainable source of funding, as current budgetary support and funds from multilateral institutions are inadequate.
It also offers incentives and certainty for the private sector to invest in the inland waterways transport sector.
The move comes along with all the benefits of transportation through the waterways that include -
environment-friendly, cleaner mode of transportation.
lower logistics cost as cargo transportation through water is much cheaper.
enable diversion of traffic from over-congested roads and railways.
