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Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Tuesday assured the House that the development of six state rivers identified as National Waterways would not be undertaken through private partners but through central funds.
“We are not going to develop the rivers under the Private Public Partnership (PPP) model but by using central funds. The State will not be able to dredge all the six rivers on its own. We can do it only with the help of the Centre,” Sawant said.
The chief minister was compelled to make the statement in the House after Congress MLA Aleixo Reginaldo Lourenco sought a categorical answer from the government that the six rivers would not be surrendered to private entities for development.
Earlier, during the discussion the chief minister said that the six rivers would not be completely given to private entities.
“Even if a PPP proposal comes from Centre, it is not completely privatization of the river. We will have to give a thought to it,” Sawant said.
Ports Minister Michael Lobo declared that there was no proposal for nationalization of the six Goan rivers.
“There is no nationalization of rivers. However, vide Inland Waterway Authority of India (IWAI) Act 2016, six rivers of Goa of national importance have been declared as National Waterways,” Lobo said in a written reply.
“Rights of State government will remain same as per Sections 27 (1) and 27 (2) of IWAI Act and Indian Port Acts and Goa Port rules,” he added.
The Curtorim MLA informed that the Central government has clearly stated that it will not invest money if there was no PPP model to develop the waterways.
“The moment you adopt the PPP model to develop the rivers all the jetties will become private. Then it will not be National Waterways, it will be private waterways. Under PPP they will form their own rules,” Reginaldo spelled out.
Warning that small fisherman will get affected the most, he said public private partnership will infringe on the rights of the small men.
Earlier, the Curtorim MLA said that as per information extracted through RTI, Sal River was not feasible for waterways.
