The government plans to operationalise 20 new national waterways over the next five years.
In a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha, Minister of Ports, Shipping and Waterways Sarbananda Sonowal outlined a phased timeline for operationalising these waterways up to 2030-31.
According to the data shared by the minister, for the financial year 2026-27, six waterways have been identified for operationalisation.
These include NW-49 on the Jhelum River (110 Km), NW-26 on the Chenab River (51 Km), NW-84 on the Ravi River (44 Km), NW-51 on the Kabini River (23.17 Km), NW-90 on the Sharavati River (28.67 Km) and NW-14 on the Baitarni River (48 Km).
During the 2027-2030 period, a larger set of waterways is planned to be operationalised.
These include NW-25 on the Chapora River (33 Km), NW-88 on the Sal River (14.05 Km), the NW-4 extension on the Krishna River stretch (636 Km), NW-76 on the Panchagangavali River (23 Km), NW-22 covering the Birupa-Badi-Genguti-Brahmani system (155 Km), NW-23 on the Budhabalanga River (55.89 Km), NW-96 on the Subarnarekha River (311 Km), NW-20 on the Bhavani River (95 Km), NW-89 on the Savitri River including Bankot Creek (45.57 Km), NW-13 on the AVM Canal (11.3 Km), NW-59 on the Kottayam-Vaikom Canal (18.8 Km), NW-28 on the Dabhol Creek-Vashishti River (45 Km) and NW-41 on the Ghataprabha River (112 Km).
For the financial year 2030-31, the NW-5 Brahmani-Kharsua-Dhamra river system (332 Km) has been planned for operationalisation.
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