The Union Ministry of Shipping has said that Kerala will have four National Waterways out of the 111 declared. The main one for Kerala is the 365- km National Waterway-3 running through the Kollam-Kozhikode stretch of West Coast Canal along with the Champakara and Udyogamandal Canals, as per information provided to the Lok Sabha last week.
The 28-km Alappuzha-Changanassery Canal has been notified as National Waterway-8 and the 38-km Alappuzha-Kottayam-Athirampuzha Canal as the National Waterway-9. The 28 km-long Kottayam-Vaikom Canal has been notified as the National Waterway-59.
Out of the 111 National Waterways, the National Waterways 1, 2 and 3 are already operational.