Four cos vie for waterway transport of coal project

Four logistics companies have submitted bids to the Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) to create and operate necessary infrastructure for transportation of a minimum of 3 mn tonne of imported coal to NTPC power plants at Farakka in West Bengal and Kahalgaon in Bihar through the Ganges. Scheduled to be operational in mid-2012, the project aims to unload coal from large Panamax vessels on high sea at Sandheads in Bay of Bengal and carry the same by barges to Farakka on the Ganges or National Waterway-I, as a cost-competitive solution to Railways. Contact: Inland Waterways Authority of India. Tel: 0120-254 4036. Fax: 0120- 254 4041. E-mail: iwainoi@nic.in Website: www.iwai.nic.in