New Delhi, Aug. 17 -- The government is preparing to accelerate the development of inland waterways, with more than a dozen new national waterways (NWs) likely to be developed over the next five to 10 years at an estimated investment of over Rs.10,000 crore, according to two people aware of the matter. The push aims to expand India's operational waterways network and achieve the Maritime Amrit Kaal Vision 2047 target of having more than 50 national waterways capable of handling cargo and passenger traffic ahead of schedule. The Centre has identified 19 more waterways, primarily for cruise tourism and passenger ferry operations, based on techno-economic feasibility studies and detailed project reports. Some of these could subsequently be upgraded for cargo movement, said the first person quoted above. Cargo movement on national waterways rose nearly eight-fold from 29 million tonnes (mt) in 2014-15 to 218 mt in 2025-26, recording a compound annual growth rate of 20.13% and surpassing the government's target of 200 mt by 2030. "We have achieved the 2030 target.in FY26 (fiscal year 2026) itself," said the second person, adding that development of additional waterways would help the country move towards the 500 mt target by 2047 ahead of schedule. However, the next phase will hinge less on declaring waterways and more on making commercially viable corridors work end-to-end, according to experts. Under the National Waterways Act, 2016, 111 inland waterways have been declared national waterways, covering about 20,187 kilometres across 23 states and four Union territories. Of these, 32 waterways, spanning a navigable length of 5,155km, are currently operational for cargo and passenger movement. Mint's queries emailed to ministry of ports, shipping and waterways remained unanswered. The government is now seeking to develop waterways as comprehensive economic corridors rather than isolated stretches of navigation, linking industrial clusters, freight terminals, ports, roads and railways. At present, nearly 85% of existing cargo traffic is concentrated on four major waterways: NW-1, the Ganga-Bhagirathi-Hooghly system; NW-91, the Shastri River-Jaigad Creek system; NW-100, the Tapi River; and NW-10, the Amba River. But "waterways will only deliver their full value if they're planned alongside the road and highway network, not in isolation," said Sanjay Kumar Sinha, founder and managing director, Chaitanya Projects Consultancy. He stressed that first- and last-mile connectivity to industrial clusters and terminals would determine the success of the projects. The government has also begun creating supporting infrastructure. A ship repair facility is nearing completion at Pandu in Assam, while facilities are planned at Varanasi and Patna. A 70-acre freight village is being developed in Varanasi by National Highways Logistics Management Ltd, a subsidiary of the National Highways Authority of India, with a special purpose vehicle already established to create a multimodal logistics hub. The Jalvahak scheme, launched in December 2024, is another part of the strategy. It offers cargo owners incentives of up to 35% of actual operating expenditure for shifting freight to inland waterways on NW-1, NW-2 (Brahmaputra) and NW-16 (Barak) through the Indo-Bangladesh Protocol route. Experts also caution against trying to develop all 111 waterways simultaneously. "The opportunity is less about developing the entire network uniformly and more about identifying and scaling commercially viable corridors," said Bhavik Vora, partner, Grant Thornton Bharat....