Need to focus on coastal shipping, inland water transport

KOCHI: Concerted efforts were needed at national and state levels to shift focus from overloaded road and rail to coastal shipping and inland water transport for movement of cargo, Chief Minister Oommen Chandy said today.

Kerala government was willing to hold discussions with other states to work out appropriate level of taxation for the sector, he said.

Inaugurating Coastal Shipping and Inland Water Transport summit here, he said Kerala government had introduced a subsidy-based scheme for water transport of Rs one per ton per km for cargo movement through coastal shipping.

"We would be willing to make further necessary changes to make the scheme more useful for the beneficiaries," he said.

In Kerala, density of population was high, highways were inadequate to contain the increasing number of vehicles, the rail network was unable to cope with the demand and the only solution was to shift from road and rail to coastal shipping and inland water transport.

"In order to achieve this, we need to make concerted efforts at the national and state level," he said.

Ports Minister K Babu said the government proposed to divert at least 20 per cent of the cargo through coastal shipping by 2015 and 40 per cent by 2020. Initially, priority would be given for specified cargoes.