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| Last Updated:: 18/10/2023

Infrastructure

   

   

              Infrastructure forms the foundation on which social, economic and Industrial Development is built. Kerala is among the well performing states in India and holds an important position in the industrial front. The state holds significant industrial potential owing to good infrastructure facilities like power, transport system, airports, port and harbours and availability of rare materials. Central agencies like Railways, National Highways, Ports, Post and Telegraph, Telecommunication and Civil Aviation Authorities play a significant role in providing infrastructure facilities.Transport infrastructure of the State consists of 3.31 lakh Kms of road, 1257 Kms of Railways, 1687 Kms of Inland Waterways and 111 statute miles of Airways and 18 Ports.


Housing:

 

                   Housing is a basic requirement of human well -being. Information in respect of the dwelling unit of the households like type of the dwelling unit (viz. independent house, flat etc.), tenurial status of dwelling unit (viz. owned, hired, no dwelling etc.), structure of the dwelling unit (viz. pucca, semi-pucca, katcha), condition of the structure (viz. good, satisfactory, bad), floor area of the dwelling unit, age of the house owned by the household, etc. along with the facilities available to the households in respect of drinking water, sanitation etc. and micro environment surrounding the house like drainage system of the house, system of disposal of household waste water, system of disposal of household garbage, problems of flies and mosquitoes etc. are important determinants of overall quality of living condition of the house hold members.

 

Status:

 

            Based on the 76th NSS Socio Economic Survey report (July 2018- December 2018) published by Department of Economics and Statistics analyses the following factors regarding housing status. The average household size in rural and urban Kerala was 3.9 and 3.8 respectively. Among the households living in houses, about 99 percent of the households in the rural areas and about 93.7 percent of the households in the urban areas had independent house. About 89.1 percent of the households in the rural areas and about 90.2 percent of the households in the urban areas had the house of pucca structure.  

 

 

                    The percentage distributions of households, in Kerala, living in houses by type of the dwelling unit, type of structure of the dwelling unit and type of ventilation of the dwelling unit is given below:

 
 
 

 
  ⇒ Housing status 2003-04

 

Transport Infrastructure:

 

                  Major transport infrastructure of the Stateconsists of 2.73 lakh km of road, 1588 km ofrailways, 1687 km of inland waterways and18 ports with 585 km coastal route and4airports. Roads play a prominent role in public transportation visa-vis-other modes of transportation owing to the geographicpeculiarities of Kerala with a comparatively lesserrural urban divide and limited geographicalarea of 38,863 Sq. km. Kerala has a total fleet of25,186 buses; of which 19,496 are private buses(77.4 per cent) and 5690 buses belonging toKerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC)comprising 22.6 per cent of the total fleet. Privatebuses dominate transport in all districts of Keralaexcept Thiruvananthapuram. The State has a railnetwork of 1,257 km route length with a totaltrack length of 1,588 km, operating under thecontrol of Palakkad and ThiruvananthapuramRailway Divisions. In Kerala, there are manywater bodies like rivers, lakes, estuaries,backwaters etc. providing adequate scope forInland Water Transport (IWT) system having alength of 1,895 km to connect the rivers from oneto another. Transportation by IWT is consideredas the most efficient economic and environmentfriendly means of transportation. Transportationby coastal shipping is the mode for most bulkcommodities and long hauling traffic. Kerala has the advantage of a 585 km coast line throughwhich bulk cargos can be transported using multi–modal transhipment points along the coastline.

 

                       Kerala has one major port at Kochi, 17 minorports and an upcoming international shipping terminal at Vizhinjam. Out of the 17 minor portsin Kerala, four are considered intermediate portsviz., Vizhinjam, Beypore, Azhikkal and Kollambased on berthing, cargo handling and storagefacilities available in them. Kerala has fourinternational airports viz., Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi, Kozhikode and Kannur.All civilian airports functioning in the State are international airports,a feature unique to Kerala. Kerala joined TamilNadu as the State with the maximum number ofinternational airports on completion of Kannurinternational airport. Realising the advantagesof mass transport system in meeting the Intracity commuter needs of major cities, GoK has embarked on Metro Rail Project for Kochi. Withthe commissioning of Mass Rapid Transit System(MRTS), major urban corridors are expected to bedecongested in these cities.


Road Network in Kerala

 

          The roads in Kerala are maintained by National Highways / Public Works Department (R&B), Local Bodies, Department of Irrigation, KSEB, Department of Forests, Railways etc. Other agencies dealing with transport sector are National Transportation Planning and Research Centre (NATPAC), Motor Vehicles Department, Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC), Kerala Transport Development Finance Corporation (KTDFC) and Roads & Bridges Development Corporation of Kerala (RBDCK).


National Highways in Kerala
                  

 

                  The State has a total road length of 2,30,934.18km. This includes classified and non-classified roads as stipulated by Indian Road Congress. Road density in Kerala is 548km per 100 sq. km, which is roughly three times the national average. The length of road per lakh population is 993.54 km and almost 90 per cent of the road network is single lane. The National Highways, considered to be the primary network, carries 40 per cent of the total traffic, and the State Highways and Major District Roads (MDRs)-the secondary road network – carries another 40 per cent of the road traffic. Thus around 12 per cent of the road network handles almost 80 per cent of the traffic in the State.

 

                   There are 11 National Highways in the State having a total length of 1,781.36 km. Out of this, the NH Wing of State PWD upkeeps 548km and the remaining 1,233.36km is maintained by the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) under Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH). The District-wise status of roads maintained by PWD (NH) wing are given here  and the length of National Highways in the State are provided below:

 

National Highways(NH) in Kerala

 

Sl.No

New No.

Old No.

From

To

Length of NH in Kerala(Km)

1.                

66

NH 17

Thalappadi

Edappally

420.77

NH 47

Edappally

Kaliyikkavila

248.66

2.                

544

NH 47

Walayar

Edappally

168.14

3.                

85

NH 49

Bodimettu

Kundanoor

167.49

4.                

744

NH 208

Kollam

Kazhuthuruthy

81.18

5.                

766

NH 212

Kozhikode

Muthanga(Kerala-Karnataka Border)

117.6

6.                

966

NH 213

Kozhikode

Palakkad

125.3

7.                

183

NH 220

Kollam

Theni (Tamil Nadu Border)

216.3

8.                

966 B

NH 47 A

Wellington Island

Kundanoor

5.92

9.                

966 A

NH 47 C

Vallarpadam

Kalamassery

17.2

10.          

183 A

 

Bharanikkavu

Pathanamthitta (via) Vandipperiyar

116.8

11.          

185

 

Adimaly

Kumili (via) Painavu

96

Total

1781.36

Source : PWD(NH)

               

                   The major roads in the State are developed and maintained by the State Public Works Department. The total length of roads maintained by Public Works Department (PWD)-Roads and Bridges (R&B) is 29,522.15km in 2021-22, which comprises 4,127.80km (13.98 per cent) State Highways and 25,394.32km (86.01 per cent) Major District Roads (MDRs).Out of the total length of the State Highways, 898.74km is four lanes, 3,193.50km is two lanes and remaining 35.75km is single lane roads. The Major District Roads covers 25,394.32km of roads with 52.51km four lane. The Local Self Government Department (LSGD) own and operates 83.19 per cent of the total road network in the State whereas the PWD (R&B) maintains 12.78 per cent of roads. The PWD (NH) wing upkeeps 0.23 per cent of the total length of road in the State and the remaining 3.8 per cent of roads are called other roads which are maintained by Railways, Irrigation, KSEB, Forest and Dewasom departments.

 

                  Kottayam District tops in the share of PWD (R&B) maintained roads with 3,310.44km (11.21 per cent) in length. Wayanad District has got the lowest share of 856.95km (2.90 per cent). Details of District-wise and category-wise length of roads maintained by PWD (R&B) are given below:

 

 

Length of Roads maintaned by Different Agencies, in per cent

 

 
 

     

                  The total length of roads maintained by different local bodies in 2021-22 is 1,92,115km, of which 1,66,921km (86.88 per cent) is maintained by District and Grama Panchayats is 16,722km (8.70 per cent) by Municipalities and 8,472km (4.40 per cent) is maintained by the corporations.

  

Rail Transport

  

                        Kerala occupies a significant position on the Indian Railways map with a total route length of 1,745 km including running track. Railway in the State comes under Thiruvananthapuram and Palakkad divisions of the Southern Railways. Palakkad Division has a total route length of 577.74km and operates 99 mail/express and 60 passenger trains and 64 freight trains. Thiruvananthapuram division has a total route length of 623km and operates about 170 mail/express/passenger trains and eight goods trains per day. All the railway lines passing through the State have been converted into broad gauge. There are about 200 railway stations in the State (95 under Palakkad Division and 105 under Thiruvananthapuram Division). Doubling and electrification works are in progress in various parts of the State. Feasibility studies for some new lines are also underway in the rail sector.

 

Kerala Rail Development Corporation (KRDCL)

 

                  Kerala Rail Development Corporation Limited has been incorporated as a joint venture company with an equity share of 51 per cent and 49 per cent between Government of Kerala and Government of India. KRDCL has initiated preliminary surveys of proposed Broad Gauge (BG) line between Thalassery and Mysore (via Mananthavady) and Nilambur to Nanjangud. It has proposed a common gateway across Western Ghats to meet the requirements of both the lines. The agency has completed Kerala side survey of the Thalassery and Mysore line and the concessionaire. M/s Konkan Rail Corporation Limited has prepared the revised feasibility report for 200km corridor. The estimated cost of the project is ₹13,987 crore. Consent from Government of Karnataka is awaited.

 

             The DPR for the development of new terminus station at Ernakulam with Commercial Development Plan has been submitted to Railway Board in December, 2017 for approval. KRDCL has also submitted feasibility report for development of Ernakulam marshalling yard as a world class coaching terminal with feasibility of integration with the proposed Silver Line and existing Kochi Metro and commercial exploitation of land. The SPV is also waiting for a green signal for Angamaly-Erumeli-Sabari new railway line which was included in the 1997-1998 works programme of Indian Railways. The Kerala Rail Development Corporation Limited (KRDCL) has prepared the DPR for the proposed Silver Line Project through M/s Systoa, Paris and this has been approved by the Government of Kerala. The report estimate the project cost to be ₹63,941 crore and expects to complete by 2025.

 

Kochi Metro Rail Project (KMRP)

 

                      Kochi Metro Rail Project is the flagship project of the GoK designed to address the transportation woes of Kochi City. The project is implemented through the Kochi Metro Rail Ltd (KMRL) which is an SPV jointly owned by the GoK and GoI through equity participation. The GoI sanctioned the Phase-I (Blue Line) of the project in July 2012 to construct a fully elevated metro via duct with 22 stations for 25.2km stretch from Aluva-Petta at a total cost of ₹6,218.14 crore (revised) and this was commissioned on June 19, 2017.

 

                   The Extension of Phase-I (Petta to Tripunithura Terminal) consists of two Phases, Phase-IA from Petta to SN Junction and Phase-IB from SN Junction to Thripunithura Terminal. The approved cost of Phase-IA Phase and Phase-IB is ₹7,10.93 crore and ₹448.33 crore (revised) respectively. Phase-IA from Petta to SN Junction (1.8km) has two stations one at SN Junction and the other one at Vadakkekotta and the stretch was inaugurated on September 1, 2022. Land acquisition for Phase-IB extension from SN Junction to Thripunithura Terminal (1.20km) has been completed and the work is in progress.

 

                   The gross revenue earnings of Kochi Metro have increased from ₹39.97 crore in 2020-21 to ₹67 crore in 2021-22. An amount of ₹45 crore was earned during the period from April to August, 2022 by the Kochi Metro Rail Ltd. The gross revenue expenditure in 2021-22 of Kochi Metro is ₹118 crore in 2021-2022 as compared to ₹112.36 crore in 2020-21. The number of passengers carried also increased to 97 lakh in 2021-22 as compared to 38 lakh in the year 2020-21. In September, 2022 average ridership of KMRL is 72,484 and the average daily revenue earned is ₹22,56,640. The details are shown below:

 

Revenue Earnings and Expenditure of Kochi Metro Rail Project, 2017 to 2022, ₹ in crore

Source: Kochi Metro Rail Ltd. (KMRL)

 

Water Metro Project

 

                         Kochi Water Metro Project envisaged creating modern water transport infrastructure in the Greater Kochi region by inducting 78 State-of-the-art electric hybrid boats covering 76.2 route km along 15 routes and traversing 38 terminals connecting 10 islands. Total revised project cost is ₹1,064.83 crore of which ₹908.76 crore is funded by KfW (Germany) and ₹156.07 crore by GoK. The project scope also includes development of waterways, access roads to the terminals, boat yards, emergency response vessels, an operation control centre, as well as necessary communication infrastructure for safe and efficient operation of the Water Metro. Water metro has two types of boats viz. 100 pax and 50 pax. These boats are climate friendly battery powered electric boats. Presently, 23 nos of 100 pax boats are under construction at Cochin Shipyard Limited and the project is expected to start operation with five boats and five terminals by the end of the year 2022.

 

Air Transport

 

                    The civil aviation industry in India has emerged as one of the fastest growing industries in the country during the last three years and can be broadly classified into scheduled air transport service which includes domestic and international airlines, non-scheduled air transport service which consists of charter operators and air taxi operators, air cargo service, which includes air transportation of cargo and mail.

 

                     The industry has partially recovered from the COVID-19 pandemic shock as indicated by the air traffic movement which stood at 6,13,566 in the first quarter of the financial year 2022-23 compared to 300,405 in the same period last year, an increase of 104.24 per cent.

 

Cochin International Airport Limited (CIAL)

 

                      The first Greenfield airport in India, the CIAL was ranked the third best airport in the 50 to 150 lakh passengers category based on the 2016 Airport Service Quality (ASQ) Survey conducted by Airports Council International (ACI), Montreal, Canada. The airport has a runway of 3,400m length with 45m wide code E runway. Total area of the renewed domestic terminal is six lakh square feet, apart from the existing one lakh square feet. It has also the state of the art facilities which include 56 check in counters, 11 gates, seven aero bridges with a capacity to handle 2,000 passengers during peak hours. CIAL handled 4.3 million passengers in 2021 and became the third largest airport in the country in the international sector. As the country resumed scheduled commercial international flights on 27th March, 2022, CIAL is set to see more traffic in both international and domestic destinations. The details of passenger movement though Cochin International Airport (domestic and international) from 2018 to 2021 is illustrated in the Figure below:

 

Passenger Traffic in Cochin International Airport, 2018 to 2022

 

Source: CIAL

 

                       In 2021-22, 17,546 international and 25,649 domestic flights were operated from the airport as compared to the 8,129 international and 18,857 domestic flights in 2020-21. With regard to the passenger movement at the airport, CIAL handled 22,31,256 international and 25,27,741 domestic passengers resulting a 92.66 per cent increase in the passenger movement over 2020-21 which stood at 9,19,346 international and 15,50,750 domestic passengers. In 2021-22, the airport handled 46,042 MT of international and 13,540 MT of domestic cargo as compared to 35,642 MT international 10,202 domestic cargo movement in 2020-21.As on March, 2022 CIAL has earned a revenue of ₹418.69 crore. The company earned an operating profit of ₹217.34 crore in 2021-22 as against ₹67 crore in 2020-21 with an increase of ₹224.39 per cent.

 

Kannur International Airport Limited (KIAL)

 

                     Kannur International Airport Limited (KIAL) was set up by Government of Kerala to build and operate Kannur International airport. The airport project is being developed in two phases by KIAL. The first phase is envisaged to span from 2016-17 to 2025-26 and second phase would be from 2026-27 to 2045-46. The first phase was inaugurated in December 2018. The airport will help the Non-Resident Keralites (NRKs), especially working in the Middle East region and boost tourism and exports which will open up several job opportunities.

 

                The facilities in the airport include a runway length of 3,050m (10,006.56ft.), with a terminal building of 96,000sq.m, 20 parking stands (apron), and 22,000sq.m car/bus parking, 1,200sq.m. ATC/Technical Building and around 7,750sq.m near the apron area of Ground Service Equipment parking area. The Board of Directors decided to extend the length of runway from 3,050m to 3,400m and the land acquisition process is in progress.

 

                   In 2021-22, the airport witnessed an increase in the passenger traffic of about 63.43 per cent compared to the previous year. The total number of passengers handled in 2021-22 is 8,03,587 which includes the domestic passenger traffic of 2,81,247 and international passengers traffic of 5,22,340 passengers. In 2022-23 (up to September, 2022) the airport handled a total passenger traffic of 96,012 passengers which comprises of 34,016 domestic and 61,996 international passengers. The passenger traffic (domestic and international) of the Kannur International Airport is illustrated below:

 

Passenger Traffic in Kannur International Airport, 2018 to 2022

 

Source: KIAL

 

                       In 2022-23 (up to August, 2022), the airport handled 1,787 MT (Export) and 2,541 MT (Import) cargo. The revenue earnings of KIAL in 2021-22 financial year is 74.62 crore and during the current financial year up to August, 2022, the earnings is 41.59 crore.

 

Thiruvananthapuram International Airport

 

                      Thiruvananthapuram International Airport located in the city of Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala. Established in 1932, it is the first airport in the State of Kerala. Thiruvananthapuram International Airport operates two terminals that feature; Terminal-1 that manages domestic flight operations, except for Air India flights and Terminal-2 that manages all international flight operations as well as all domestic flights by Air India. The airport has a single runway that is 11,178 feet (3,407m) long. Thiruvananthapuram International Airport spread over an area of 700 acres (280ha) is the second busiest airport in Kerala and the fourteenth busiest in India. International operations of the airport are mostly to Middle Eastern and South Asian countries.

 

                The Airports Authority of India (AAI) has handed over airports namely, Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Lucknow, Guwahati, Thiruvananthapuram and Mangalore to M/s Adani Airport Holdings Ltd. for operations, management and development under Public Private Partnership (PPP) for 50 years. The formal transfer of the airport to Adani Thiruvananthapuram International Airport Ltd. (ATIAL) was held on October, 2021.

 

Water Transport

 

                Water transport is the cheapest and the oldest mode of public transport. It has played a very significant role in bringing different parts of the world closer and is indispensable to foreign trade. In Kerala, water transport has the potential to become a viable supplement to road and rail transport. Its huge carrying capacity and suitability for carrying bulk goods over long distances makes water transport more attractive. For enhancing the efficiency and sustainability of water transport, a comprehensive framework for the key aspects of navigation has to be established. This section reviews the performance of the sector, effectiveness of various Government Plans and policies aimed at the overall development of ports and inland waterways, their facilitation and promotion of coastal shipping, foreign trade, and inland water transport.

 

Ports in Kerala

 

                    Kerala has a coastal length of approximately 590 km. There is one Major Port at Cochin and 17 non-major ports and another upcoming major port at Vizhijnam. Out of 17 non major ports in Kerala, four are considered as intermediate ports based on berthing, cargo handling and storage facilities available in them. There is also an inland port at Nattakom in Kottayam. 616 vessels arrived at various ports of Kerala in 2021-22. They are at Vizhinjam (1), Kollam (103), Beypore (501), and Azhikkal (11). The type of vessels registered includes passenger vessel, speed boat, house boat, cargo vessel, floating resort, motor boat, cutter section dredger, jankar, shikkaras, tug, rescue boat, and cruise boat. In 2021-22, 535 vessels were inspected, 369 vessels were found perfect and 166 were defective vessels. As the port department is implementing the KIV rules, it conducts inspections and facilitates registration of vessels.

 

Cargo Handled in Intermediate Ports and Minor Ports in Kerala

 

                     The table below shows the details of cargo handled by non-major ports in Kerala for the last five years. Considering the last five years, drastic fluctuation between years is seen in the quantity of cargo handled by intermediate ports in Kerala. In all these five years, export cargo (coastal and overseas) is higher than import cargo (coastal and overseas). The total cargo exports from Kerala was 1,26,619 tonne in 2018 and 2,65,538 tonne in 2022.

 

Cargo Handled at the Intermediate and Minor Ports of Kerala 2018 to 2022, in tonne

Year

Import

Export

Total

Coastal

Foreign

Total

Coastal

Foreign

Total

2018

12174

0

12174

126619

0

126619

138793

2019

92542

4459

97001

122380

3767

126147

223148

2020

37338

908

38246

115968

0

115968

154214

2021

8074

119

8193

41118

69

41187

49380

2022

57253

0

57253

264989

549

265538

322791

Total

207381

5486

212867

671074

4385

675459

888326

Source: Kerala Maritime Board

 

                   The total revenue collected in the intermediate and minor ports of Kerala declined considerably in 2018. In 2020, it recorded an increase, though not up to the previous-level. The main activity of a port is considered to be merchandise transport. Unfortunately, the share of export and import dues is less than one per cent of total revenue in these years. Major share of port revenue comes from dredged material. It is around 75 per cent of the total revenue comes from dredged material. It is around 75 per cent of the total revenue. Actual port activity needs to be enhanced.

 

Cochin Port

 

                     Cochin Port is the only major port in Kerala. It spreads over 827 hectares. It has a water frontage of 7.5km. The port has connectivity to hinterland through NH 544, NH 66 and NH 185. Rail links to the Konkan and Southern Railway also give key rail access to its hinterland. An inland waterway connecting Kollam and Kottappuram is being developed on either side by the Inland Waterways Authority of India. Completion of the prestigious Vallarpadam Container Terminal project would make the Cochin Port a major hub port in the Indian Ocean region. Cochin Port has 21 Berths including one Single Point Mooring SPM with an effective rated capacity of 73.67 MTPA. From April to March, 2021-22, Cochin port handled 4.8 per cent of the total cargo handled by India’s 12 major ports. The details are given below:

 

Year-wise Cargo Handled at Cochin Port (In thousand tonnes)

 

Financial Year (2020-21)

Financial Year (2021-22)

Cargo handled

per cent Share of total Major ports

Cargo handled

per cent Share of total Major ports

Overseas

20402

3.8

22704

4.1

Coastal

11101

7.5

11846

7.0

Total

31503

4.6

34550

4.8

Source: Transportation Research, Ministry of Ports, Shipping and waterways, Government of India portal

 

Vizhinjam International Seaport Limited (VISL)

 

                Vizhinjam International Transshipment Terminal will be the first deep water transshipment terminal in India. The main advantage of Vizhinjam port is natural depth of 18m, 10 nautical miles from the major international shipping route and minimal littoral drift along the coast. Government of Kerala has constituted a special purpose vehicle namely Vizhinjam International Sea port Limited (VISL) to facilitate the implementation of the project. Port operation and development is also planned on PPP model for an agreed concession time period. Terminal operator(s) will be required to develop the container yard, terminal buildings, and purchase and operate the cargo handling equipments. With regard to funding for the development of VISL, the largest share comes from the State Government which accounts for about 57.5 per cent out of the total funding followed by concessionaire (Adani Vizhinjam Port Private Ltd.) which accounts for 31.8 per cent and the remaining 10.62 per cent is contributed by the Government of India.

 

Malabar International Port and SEZ Limited

 

                       Malabar International Port and SEZ Limited (MIPS Ltd), a Company wholly owned by the Government of Kerala was incorporated to execute the project for development of Azhikkal Port. Azhikkal Port is envisaged as an international as well as coastal shipping seaport with inter-modal connectivity with SEZs/industrial parks that can funnel cargo to the port and entrepreneurial resources into potential sectors in the Malabar region. The development of a new seaport for domestic and international cargo in the open sea at Azhikkal is envisaged in three phases-capable of handling up to Panamax size ships (capacity of 4,000 to 4,500 containers). A 500-metre berth is planned in Phase-I, a 300-metre berth in Phase-II and another 300-metre berth is planned in Phase-III. Once the port becomes fully operational, Azhikkal port will handle even internationally plying ships of around 4,500 TEU Panamax vessels with a dredged depth of around 14.5m in the harbour basin. The port can handle containers, liquid bulk, petroleum products, dry bulk/break-bulk cargos etc.

 

Inland Water Transport

 

                Inland Water Transport is fast emerging as one of the viable supplementary modes for movement of passengers and goods. It is considered cost-effective and eco-friendly mode of transport. Any disruption in the rail/road transport not only creates hardships to passengers and movement of goods but also put a hold on the economic growth of the country. Hence, it becomes all the more necessary to develop and promote IWT sector. The cargo traffic movement through operational national water waterways was 83.61 Million Metric Tonne (MMT) in 2020-21. A quantity of 96.31 MMT cargo traffic movements has been recorded till February 2, 2022. As per Maritime India Vision (MIV) 2030 document, cargo movement on National Waterways is targeted as 200 MMT by 2030.

 

National Waterways in Kerala

 

                 As part of a programme for developing waterways by the Central Government, the portion of West Coast Canal from Kollam to Kottapuram and Udyogamandal and Champakara Canals were declared as National Waterway three in 1993. The NW-3 is now extended up to Kozhikode by the National Waterway Act 2016. After the National waterway Act 2016; three canals were added to National Waterways under class three specification of 2.20m draught, 6.0m vertical clearance and 32-40m width. National Water Ways in Kerala are listed in given below: 

 

 

Sl.No

Route

Length (in km)

NW No.

1

Kollam-Kottapuram portion of WCC

168

NW-3

Udyogamandal canal

23

Champakara canal

14

Kottappuram-Kozhikkode portion of WCC

160

2

Alappuzha-Changanassery

28

NW-8

3

Alappuzha-Kottayam-Athirampuzha

38

NW-9

4

Kottayam-Vaikkam

28

NW-59

5

Poovar-Erayumanthurai-AVM canal (Major portion in TN)

 

NW-13

Total Length (excluding AVM canal)

459 km

Source: Inland Water Ways Authority, Kochi

 

                     National Water Ways in Kerala Source: Inland Water Ways Authority, Kochi Waterways in the State include the main arterial West Coast Canal (WCC) and feeder canals. The total length of the potential Inland Waterways in the State is 1,700km. Total length of WCC is 612.45km. There are 1,100 km feeder/link canals connecting WCC and important destinations like commercial centres, ports and tourism spots. WCC can broadly be divided into five sections namely (1) Kovalam-Kollam (74.18km), (2) Kollam-Kottappuram (Kodungallur) (168km), (3) Kottappuram-Kozhikode (160km), (4) Kozhikode-Neeleswaram (187.82km) and (5) Neeleswaram-Kasaragod (22.45km) respectively. Three portions between Mahe and Valapattanam having total length of 26km are uncut portions. Further extension for 41km from Neeleswaram to Bakel is also under consideration.

 

Infrastructure - Transport Statistics 2006:21

 

 
Source:

* Economic Review 2010-2022

* Motor Vehicle Department 

Department of Economics and Statistics, Kerala