Business opportunities worth Rs 2 lakh crore emerging from interlinking river projects, says ICRA

River linking: The new study by ICRA reveals significant business opportunities for engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) firms in India, estimating opportunities worth Rs 2 lakh crore towards completion of four priority interlinking river (ILR) projects during the next decade.

According to the report, this amount would be approximately Rs 80,000 crore and Rs 80,000 crore of this sum would be sanctioned in the next four years to the companies working on the large-scale irrigation schemes. The National Water Development Agency has made a list of 30 ILR projects, 16 peninsular river links, and 14 Himalayan river links, which would be funded by 60 per cent from the Government of India and the rest 40 per cent from the state governments.

Notes a four-fold increase in the focus of the Centre on the water sector: The budgetary allocation to the Ministry of Jal Shakti has touched Rs 78,000 crore Chintan Lakhani, Vice President and Sector Head - of Corporate Ratings at ICRA, said, "The four priority links are just the beginning of the ten-year plan for ILR project implementation.". While the current budget allocation for these projects is minimal at about 5 per cent, expectations are that it will begin to increase as more projects become ready for bidding and construction.

Of these four projects, to be taken up early, are Ken-Betwa, Kosi-Mechi, Parabati-Kalisindh-Chambal, and Godavari-Cauvery links. Of all these, the Godavari-Cauvery is the biggest project at 45 per cent of the cumulative cost of all the four projects, while the smallest is the Kosi-Mechi link at only 4 per cent. The Ken-Betwa link has already initiated implementation at 21 per cent of the total cost for these priority links.

While these river connecting projects advance, increasing investments and construction will surely make India's water management, as well as infrastructure developments, understand the big change.