State lays out grand plans for Hooghly

KOLKATA: If the Centre has a detailed plan to develop the Ganga — now National Waterway I — so has the state.
Since the beginning of its tenure, the Mamata Banerjee government has targeted greater utilization of the river to facilitate both passenger and cargo transportation. The state government has planned as many as 40 gangway pontoon jetties in Kolkata Metropolitan Area (KMA) and 20 each to the north and south of KMA.
The Centre has already announced a dredging project for the river worth the equivalent of US $300 million under the Jal Marg Vikas Scheme. The target is to maintain a draught of at least 3m all along the river round the year.
The state transport department, on the other hand, has commissioned six new vessels and will get another eight this year. The department is also renovating the existing pontoon-jetties. The chief minister believes boost to infrastructure will facilitate the burgeoning riverine tourism as well.
Already, two jetties along with passenger facilities have been developed in Dakshineswar and Gadiara. Two more are coming up at Garulia and Bhadreswar. “Riverine transportation is very high on our priority list. We are exploring all possibilities that would take the pressure off roadway and decongest the city,” said principal secretary (transport) Alapan Bandyopadhyay.
Besides bigger passenger vessels, majority of the luxury liners find it difficult to approach the land since there is no jetty. “It is a cumbersome process to shift tourists to smaller boats to get off at the ghats. Jetties will be of great relief,” said a luxury liner operator, who mostly takes foreign tourists to the historical places along the Hooghly.
Two of the recently commissioned vessels were given to Chinsurah Municipality for movement between Chinsurah and Naihati, two more were given to Chandernagore Municipal Corporation for movement between Chandernagore and Jagaddal and another two to Uttarpara Municipality for Uttarpara-Dakshineswar movement.
The transport department is also planning to utilize the existing 57 jetties along a 324km stretch upstream of Tribeni in Hooghly which were built by West Bengal Transport Infrastructure Development Corporation with 90% funding from the Centre.
The Inland Waterways Authority of India will also strengthen open river navigation techniques, river training and conservancy, and structural and hardware improvement, including dredging, modern river information system, digital global positioning system (DGPS), night navigation facilities and modern methods of channel marking. Construction of terminals at Allahabad, Varansai and Gazipur in Uttar Pradesh, Sahibganj in Bihar and Katwa in West Bengal will facilitate transshipment and movement of bulk cargo on NW-1.
Rs 4,200 crore (US$ 700 million) will be required to develop NW-1 from Haldia to Allahabad. World Bank was approached for technical assistance and investment support. In July 2014, World Bank indicated its readiness to provide support with an initial loan of US$ 50 million.
“We have to rationalize the entire river transport system. The ferry service is limited to the city core. We are trying to introduce water-taxi to connect the farthest parts of the suburbs with the heart of the city. The beauty of the Hooghly is that from the ferry ghat, one can just walk up to his or her office in BBD Bag,” pointed out a transport department official.
Also, regular ferry services mostly crisscross the river along its breadth. But the transport department’s study shows a huge potential for longer versions of ferry services since both road and rail transportation have exceeded their saturation level.
Besides the movement of regular passenger vessels of West Bengal Surface Transport Corporation across the river, the government will seek participation of private players and the big cooperative societies that have the expertise in running ferry services in the Hooghly. A few private players have already showed interest in running these longer services.
Not only is the Hooghly free of congestion, it will give passengers a pleasant journey along the river. The project will also give tourists access to some otherwise inaccessible sites apart from facilitating economic growth in these areas.