Inland Waterways to raise Rs 1,000 cr via maiden bond issue next month

For the first time, Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) will raise Rs 1,000 crore next month by way of infrastructure bonds.

"Crisil has already rated the infrastructure bond as AAA," Pravir Pandey, vice chairman of IWAI told DNA Money.

Instruments with 'AAA' rating are considered to have the highest degree of safety regarding timely servicing of financial obligations. Such instruments carry lowest credit risk.

Apart from raising funds through infrastructure bond, IWAI is also in talks with international financing agencies including World Bank, Japanese International Cooperation Agency, Asian Development Bank for raising funds for various waterway projects lined up across the country.

In March, the parliament had cleared National Waterways Bill, converting 111 rivers into National Waterways (NW).

This move is expected to boost movement of goods and passengers using rivers; it will not only reduce transportation costs but also congestion on the state and national highways.

In August 2016, for NW 1, that is Varanasi to Haldia on the rivers Ganges and Hoogly, a trial was conducted wherein 35 passenger cars were shipped. It had helped an automobile company save Rs 3,800 per car.

"Concerns were raised by environmentalists with regards to pollution. As a solution, we are working on getting Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) field vessels and duel fuel or LNG and high-speed diesel," added Pandey.

"DST, Germany, have been engaged to design special carriers with LNG-powered engines. They will design vessels that will carry 300 cars at a go," said Pandey. Close to 200 low-draught vessels will be developed by DST, Germany.

After a successful trial, there are other companies from various sectors who have showed a willingness to transport their goods using NW 1; some of the sectors include cement, fertiliser, etc.

The estimated cost for the NW 1 project is Rs 5,369 crore, 50% of which will be funded by the World Bank and the balance by government.

Under the project, multi-modal terminals will come up at Varanasi, Haldia, and Sahibganj.

River Information System to keep a tab on sailing traffic, too, will come up which will include fishing vessels as well. Works worth Rs 1,700 crore have already been awarded, which are expected to be through in 2021.

"We realised that between Varanasi and Haldia, there are 7 bridges, out of which 3-4 are totally congested or in a dilapidated state. So, we are introducing Ro-Ro (roll on-roll off) vessels wherein 18-20 vessels will be loaded," shared Pandey.

As against 5 locations for Ro-Ro proposed earlier, the places have been increased to 10, namely, Buxar, Varanasi, Patna, Ghazipur, Bhagalpur, Haldia, Sahibganj, Manihari, Munger and Kolkata.