Inland Waterways Authority Of India

General information

Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) is a statutory body set up in 1986 through the Inland Waterways Authority of India Act, 1985 for regulation and development of inland waterways for the purposes of shipping and navigation in the country. It primarily administers the provisions of the Act and frames the rules thereunder and is directly responsible for the regulation and development of national waterways. The mandate of IWAI is fast evolving from a regulator to a facilitator in development of waterways, improving navigation and enhancing transportation capacity on such waterways through Private participation. While the five National Waterways (NW-1 to NW-5) were declared between 1986-2008, additional 106 NWs were declared in 2016, under the National Waterways Act, 2016 in April 2016. NW-1 is the longest (1620 km) of the 111 National Waterways. The Government is developing NW-1 under the Jal Marg Vikas Project, with the technical and financial assistance of the World Bank at an estimated cost of Rs. 5369 crore. The project would enable commercial navigation of vessels with capacity of 1500-2,000 tons.