The Minister of State for Shipping, Mr Mukul Roy informed the Lok Sabha that the following five waterways have so far been declared as National Waterways:

1. Ganga -Bhagirathi- Hooghly river system (Allahabad-Haldia-1620 km)-NW-1, declared in 1986.

2. River Brahmaputra (Dhubri - Sadiya -891 Km) -NW-2 declared in 1988.

3. West Coast Canal (Kottapuram - Kollam) along with Udyogmandal and Champakara Canals- (205 km) - NW-3 declared in 1993.

4. Kakinada-Puducherry canals along with Godavari and Krishna rivers (1078 km)-NW-4 declared in 2008.

5. East Coast Canal integrated with Brahmani river and Mahanadi delta rivers (588 km) - NW-5 declared in 2008.

The Minister further stated that out of the above mentioned five NWs, basic inland water transport related infrastructure has been provided on NW-1, 2 and 3. This includes navigational channel with least available depth in different stretches depending upon their hydro-morphological characteristics, a number of fixed and floating terminals and navigational aids (including aids for 24 hours navigation in most of their lengths). These infrastructural facilities are being maintained/further developed on year to year basis depending upon available resources. But due to non availability of funds during the 11th Plan no development could be started on NW-4 and NW-5 and Planning Commission has now advised to develop commercially viable stretches of NW-4 and 5 under Public Private Partnership mode with Viability Gap Funding.