The Vice President Shri Venkaiah Naidu will lay the foundation stone for the development of Muktyala to Vijayawada stretch of Krishna River (National Waterways – 4) tomorrow in Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh.  He will also inaugurate approximately 415 km of National Highways projects worth Rs 1928.46 crores and lay the foundation stone  for another 250 km NH projects worth Rs 2539.08 crores.  The Minister of Road Transport & Highways, Shipping and Water Resources, River Development & Ganga Rejuvenation Shri Nitin Gadkari and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Shri N Chandrababu Naidu will also be present on this occasion.

As per MoU signed with Govt. of Andhra Pradesh on 14^th April,2016, NW-4 in Andhra Pradesh is proposed to be developed in three phases

·       Phase-I: -Muktyala to Vijayawada (Krishna River) (82 Km)

·      Phase-II: -Vijayawada to Kakinada (Eluru canal & Kakinada canal) and Rajahmundry to Polavaram stretch of Godavari (233 Km)

·      Phase-III: -Commamur Canal, Buckingham canal and balance stretches of Krishna & Godavari Rivers (573km)

The Vice President will lay the foundation stone for Phase- I on 3^rd October, 2017. Work on this phase that is development of the 82 km from Muktiyala to Vijayawada stretch has already commenced. Dredging began in the shallow areas in May this year, and the work is expected to be complete by June, 2019. The project will provide an efficient logistics solution to boost the economic growth of the region and facilitate the development of the capital city Amravati during its early development stage as substantial construction material is expected to be transported on this stretch of NW-4.

For Temporary Terminal Facilities was awarded in August this year and is expected to be complete by June 2018. For the Permanent Terminal Facilities work is expected to be awarded by March, 2018 and work to be completed by June, 2019. Night Navigational aids to be taken up in 2018. Three cargo terminals are proposed to be built at Muktyala, Ibrahimpatnam, and Harishchandrapur and four Passenger Terminals are to be built at Durga Ghat, Bhawani Island, Vedadari, and Amravati on NW- 4 in phase 1.  The DPR for construction of these seven terminals has been completed.

National Waterway No.4 was declared in November, 2008 for a total length of 1078 km. This length was extended to  2890 km by NW Act-2016. The following stretches are included in this :

a)      River Godavari (Bhadrachalam to Rajahmundry)      = 171 km

b)      River Krishna (Wazirabad to Vijayawada)                 = 157 km

c)      Kakinada Canal (Kakinada to Rajahmundry)                        =  50 km

d)     Eluru Canal (Rajahmundry to Vijayawada)               = 139 Km

e)      Commamur Canal (Vijayawada to Pedaganjam)        = 113 km

f)       North Buckingham Canal (Pedaganjam to Chennai)  = 316 km

g)      South Buckingham Canal (Chennai to Merkanam)    = 110 km

h)      Kaluvelly Tank (Markanam to Puducherry)               =   22 km

                   Extended sections

a.    River Krishna from Wazirabad to Galagali (628 Km)

b.    River Godavari from Bhadrachalam to Nasik (1184Km)

A proposal for Phase-II has been recommended by IWAI board for PIB/Cabinet. Also, a proposal for formation of Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) for implementation of the project is under consideration for the approval of Cabinet. The SPV is expected to be formed by November 2017.

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