Capacity Augmentation of the National Waterway- 1 (JAL MARG VIKAS) Project

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The development objective of the First Capacity Augmentation of the National Waterway Project for India is to enhance transport efficiency and reliability of national waterway 1 (NW-1) and augment institutional capacity for the development and management of India's inland waterway transport system in an environmentally sustainable manner. The project comprises of two components. The first component, improving the navigability of NW-1 (Haldia to Varanasi) includes six sub-components: (i) retroactive financing for detailed topographic and bathymetric surveys, preparation of technical feasibility and detailed engineering studies, preparation of environmental and social impact assessment (ESIA) studies, and other supporting technical assistance and studies for project preparation, most of which have been completed; (ii) improvement of river fairway through dredging and river conservancy works; (iii) construction of permanent protection works for erosion- prone banks in selected locations, totaling up to 40 km; (iv) rehabilitation of the existing Farakka ship lock and construction of a new parallel lock to allow concurrent two-way working; (v) construction of: (i) six multimodal and inter-modal freight terminals with future provision to allow evolution as market clusters, (ii) two vessel repair and maintenance facilities, and (iii) five pairs of Ro-Ro crossings; and (vi) sixth sub-component includes: (i) navigational aids in the form of night navigation facilities and channel marking; (ii) enhancement of the existing river information service (RIS) through addition of app-based systems, an improved communication platform, and expanded user reach; (iii) support for the development of a terminal management system (TMS); and (iv) provision of other support services, for example, search and rescue, distress response and casualty incident management, and upgrading vessel and river monitoring systems. The second component, strengthening institutional capacities and improving the investment climate, vessel design, and the construction framework includes three sub-components: (i) institutional strengthening of sector institutions and capacity building of the sector; (ii) improving the overall investment climate; and (iii) third sub-component includes: (i) vessel design and standardization with a focus on low draft and efficient and clean fuel (LNG) vessels; (ii) undertaking public and private stakeholder consultations to encourage investment in modern vessel technology through review of fiscal and other barriers hindering vessel construction; and (iii) construction and or leasing of 10 low-draft vessels to kick-start the use of modern vessels in NW-1.