310 km of inland waterway commissioned

The challenge to make the 633-km West Coast Canal (WCC) from Kovalam to Kasaragod navigable has received a fillip with the commissioning of the 310-km stretch of the inland waterway from Veli to Chavakkad by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Monday. The challenge is being taken up as per the National Waterways specs at ₹2,300 crore.

At a easy operate on the boat jetty of the Veli vacationer village, the Chief Minister commissioned the rejuvenated 62 km of State Waterways from Veli to Kollam and 168 km of the National Waterway from Kollam to Kottappuram and 80 km from Kottappuram to Chavakkad.

Later, the Chief Minister took a brief cruise from Veli to Poundukadavu within the Veli-Kadinamkulam stretch of the Parvathy Puthanar on a 24-seater photo voltaic boat, indigenously manufactured for Cochin International Airport Ltd (CIAL).

V.S. Sivakumar and V. Joy, MLAs; Additional Chief Secretary, Home and Inland Navigation T.K. Jose; and Managing Director of KWIL, V.J. Kurien, accompanied the Chief Minister.

Pending work

All works, besides that on 1.5 km on both aspect of the the 722-m Sivagiri tunnel and the 350-m Chilakoor tunnel, had been accomplished. Boats can transfer alongside the 2 tunnels as they’ve a diameter of 4.7 m. The remaining works will probably be accomplished by the Inland Navigation Department this month.

Already, the 168-km Kollam-Kottappuram stretch of the 633 km West Coast Canal — the primary arterial waterway traversing by 11 districts — developed as National Waterway III is navigable. The hall from Kollam to Kottappuram can facilitate the motion of 350 to 500 tonnes cargo vessels.

The stretch from Akkulam to Kollam has a width of 10-15 m and depth of 1.2-1.5 m.

Till Vallakadavu

Kerala Waterways and Infrastructure Ltd. (KWIL), the particular objective car created for the rejuvenation of the inland waterways, has accomplished the work alongside the 6 km from Akkulam to Vallakadavu. But, the delay in demolishing a 2.75-m excessive bridge at Karikkakom and putting in a hydraulic bridge is stopping the motion of the photo voltaic boat to Vallakadavu.

Beyond Chavakkad, six low-level bridges and the Kuttai regulator within the Ponnani-Kozhikode hall pose hurdles. The plan is to make the waterway from north to south navigable by 2022 after which to take steps to achieve the NW III requirements of 32-m backside width, 40-m high width and depth of 2.2 m by 2025.