Clear water bodies dotted with 10,000 seaplanes, ‘floating cities’ in the form of ocean cruises and electric vehicles zipping on dedicated highway lanes – that’s the future as envisioned by Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari. For Gadkari at the helm of affairs to overhaul the country’s infrastructure, India has the potential to realise all this and much more. “I have been talking about seaplanes. If it starts, in India we have the potential of starting 10,000 seaplanes. We have three to four lakh ponds in India, plenty of dams, 2,000 river ports, 200 small ports and 12 major ports. It will cost less,” said Gadkari.
The minister said he has asked his civil aviation counterpart Ashok Gajapathi Raju to explore a regulatory regime for single-engine seaplanes to facilitate introduction of such planes in the country as early as possible. “Seaplanes can land in one foot water and require only 300 metre runway. It has a huge potential and runs at a speed of 400 km per hour. Our ministry and the aviation ministry will finalise its rules and regulations soon. There are different rules in America, Canada, Japan. We will study their laws in three months,” he said. The minister, along with Raju, had participated in a seaplane trial run of budget carrier SpiceJet at the Girgaum Chowpatty off the Mumbai coast last month.
SpiceJet plans to buy more than 100 amphibian aircraft at an estimated cost of US$ 400 million. Describing cruises as ‘floating cities’, Gadkari said they have the potential to swell to more than 950 from about 90 at present. Cruises from India could go to Singapore, the Philippines and Thailand and massive efforts are underway to boost this segment, including a Rs 1,000 crore terminal being built in Mumbai. A policy is also in the works. Listing priorities for 2018, Gadkari said work will start on much-awaited India’s first pod taxi project after a high-level panel recommended inviting fresh bids for the same conforming to the strictest global safety standards. “Seaplanes, cruises, waterways, electric vehicles, pod taxis, catamarans, expressways or the mammoth Rs 16 lakh crore Sagarmala and Rs 7 lakh crore Bharatmala initiatives will change the face of India’s infrastructure,” he claimed.
PTI