ANDHRA PRADESH - AP will cruise ahead on inland waterways: Chandrababu Naidu

Chandrababu Naidu N Chief Minister announced an incentive of 25 paise per tonne to promote inland waterways State. He said Andhra Pradesh has more potential for the development of waterways and stressed the need for the development of inland waterways to prevent contamination and told AP he wants to make a model for inland waterways.

Naidu announced 25 paise per tonne incentive to promote inland waterway transport to reduce pollution Vijayawada to provide more space lung.

Claims AP has more potential for the development of water courses and Krishna Godavari linking and other rivers. Insinuates beautification three flow channels.

Participating as chief guest of the summit of stakeholders for the development of inland waterways-4 National organized here on Thursday, the CM expressed concern about the poor use of watercourses which stands at 0.3 percent in India compared to 46 percent in Norway.

Naidu said that AP has more potential for the development of water courses and Krishna Godavari linking and other rivers. He said the proposal Kakinada-Pondicherry, Muktyala-Amaravati, Polavaram the right channel and the right channel Polavaram linking Vishakhapatnam provide great opportunity for transporting coal, cement and rice at a cost of cheaper transport and help reduce pollution.

The CM requested the Inland Waterways Authority of India officials to appoint consultants to design global inland waterways AP world class and is willing to extend the necessary cooperation to promote water transport.

He said three channels are going through the city of Vijayawada and is planning to provide pulmonary along the channels beautifying them space.

He said the development of watercourses will also help develop tourism in the region and said the government has been asking the Government of India to allocate INS Virat Vishakhapatnam to develop it as a start hotel with a capacity of 1,000 rooms, as it is to have aircraft landing facility.

This would help create awareness among people about the role of the navy in protecting the country. Naidu said they are planning to launch a university college logistics, water and energy university to promote all these sectors, which play a key role in the development of the state. Earlier, explaining the details of the progress of waterways Authority of India president Amitabh Verma said 80 percent of the survey was completed.

He said tender the work would be completed in 15 days for the development of waterway Muktyala to Amaravati. He said there is great potential for inland waterways, as it would help transport facilities for coal, cement and rice to various ports in the state.

The former head of the eastern sea Satish Soni explained on the progress of inland waterways in various countries.Minister for Water Resources Devineni Umamaheswara Rao, Secretary of Energy and Infrastructure and Investment Ajay Jain, chief engineer of waterways and authority India S Dandapat and others were present.