Current Affairs - Defence - Discussion

Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) made public 13 standardised advanced ship designs suitable for large barge haulage on river Ganga (National Waterway-1). The Government is implementing Jal Marg Vikas Project (JMVP) for capacity enhancement of navigation on NW-1 (Varanasi-Haldia stretch) at a cost of Rs 5369.18 crore. Technical assistance and investment support is provided by the World Bank. It will bring in savings of Rs 30-50 lakhs in building of a vessel. It will also eliminate the dependence on foreign ship designs for Inland Water Transport (IWT) and contribute to 'Make in India'. The new designs will help shipyards build vessels of standardised dimensions and capacity, and will lead to reduced fuel costs and lesser logistics costs.