PM will also publish a document: “River Cruise Vision Document 2047”.
Varanasi:
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will flag the world’s longest river cruise ship, MV Ganga Vilas, in Varanasi via video link on Friday and will inaugurate and lay the groundwork for various other projects.
The longest river cruise in the world MV Ganga Vilas is the for the first time cruise ship to be manufactured in India. This is the symbol of self-sufficient India (Atmanirbhar Bharat) in the river cruise sector, a Port, Shipping and Waterways official told ANI.
MV Ganga Vilas will start its journey from Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh and will travel 3,200 km, in 51 days, to reach Dibrugarh in Assam via Bangladesh.
The inauguration ceremony will be in the presence of the Minister of Ports, Transport and Waterways, Sarbananda Sonowal, Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, Yogi Adityanath, as well as other Ministers and senior officials from various Ministries and Departments.
Union Minister of Shipping and Waterways Sarbananda Sonowal told ANI that on its maiden voyage, MV Ganga Vilas will transport 32 tourists from Switzerland across 27 river systems and sail through several prominent destinations located along along the banks of the river in Varanasi, Patna, Kolkata, Bangladesh. , Guwahati and Sibsagar/Dibrugarh.
“The trip will give foreign tourists an opportunity to embark on an experiential journey and enjoy the art, culture, history and spirituality of India and Bangladesh,” said Mr. Sonowal.
The Union minister further said that this cruise is the culmination of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of making waterways a source of development for the nation. More than 100 waterways are being developed at various places in India to facilitate the development of the waterway ecosystem, which will generate more cruise tourism, boost local businesses along the river banks and lead to the growth of local economies.
Built to appreciate Indian and international design, the modernist ship is 62 meters long and 12 meters wide and requires a draft of 1.4 meters. With 18 suites and all associated amenities, the ship has a total carrying capacity of 36 passengers.
PM will publish a document: “River Cruise Vision Document 2047”, which outlines the vision for the progress and growth of river cruises by 2047.
During the event, the PM will also inaugurate Haldia multimodal terminal, 4 floating community docks in Uttar Pradesh, Skill Development Center at Guwahati in Assam.
To facilitate the growth of water transport in India, IWAI has undertaken several projects, one of which is the Haldia MMT. Haldia is an industrial port city located at the confluence of the Hoogly River and the Bay of Bengal in the state of West Bengal. Haldia’s geographic advantage provides a competitive logistic advantage with waterways. It provides the opportunity to export and import the products at quite affordable prices. Developed over an area of 61 acres in the Purba Medinipur district of West Bengal under the Jal Marg Vikas Project, the Haldia Multimodal Terminal (MMT) has a cargo handling capacity of 3.08 MMTPA. The docks are designed to handle vessels up to 3,000 DWT.
“Floating community jetties will be inaugurated in Saidpur (Ghazipur), Chochakpur (Ghazipur), Zamania (Ghazipur) and Kanpur (Ballia) in Uttar Pradesh. More than 60 community jetties are being built along the Ganges river in Uttar Pradesh states , Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal to boost economic activities and improve the livelihood of the local community,” the ministry official said.
A Port, Shipping and Waterways official further said that the community jetties aim for inclusive growth and would play a key role in improving people’s livelihoods by providing simple logistics solutions for small farmers, fishing units, a unorganized agricultural production unit, horticulturists. ., florists and artisans focused on economic activities in and around the hinterland of the Ganges River.
With the rapid development and growth of the IWT sector, skilled labor is the need in the industry. As skills development is one of the major aspects of growth in any sector, a skills development center has been developed in Guwahati for inland vessel engineering and navigation personnel. This center will offer IV Master, IV Engineer, street development, safety, etc. courses. – With the help of IIT, Guwahati and the National Institute of Inland Navigation (NINI), Patna.
The skills center in Guwahati will help people from the North East Region to increase their competence and employability in the IWT sector.
In addition to this, PM will also lay the foundation stone for a ship repair facility and causeway at Pandu Terminal. The causeway will provide direct connectivity to NH 27. Ship repair will save a lot of valuable time as it takes more than a month to transport a ship to Kolkata repair facility and back. In addition, it will also mean a great saving in terms of money since the cost of transporting the boat will also be saved.
“In line with PM’s vision of making waterways a source of development of the nation, IWAI contributes and will continue to contribute to the development of national waterways and making them more and more efficient,” the official added.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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