PANJIM: The first electric-cum-solar-powered ferryboat, built by the Aquarius Shipyard Private Limited, Divar, for River Navigation Department (RND), will be ready by October this year, Captain of Ports James Braganza told Herald.
“We decided to build one hybrid electric solar boat and the order has been given to Aquarius Shipyard at an estimated cost of Rs four crore. The work of building the ferryboat started two months ago and will be delivered to RND by October this year,” Braganza said.
The decision to build the hybrid electric solar boat was taken following a visit of then RND Minister Ramkrishna (Sudin) Dhavalikar and other officials to Kerala in 2018, after Kerala introduced the country’s first solar-powered ferryboat.
The proposal is to use the solar-powered ferryboat for passenger commuting as well cruises for tourists. “This boat will be used for Aldona-Panjim or Chorao-Panjim passenger service and after office hours it will be used for evening river cruise services as it has a seating capacity for 60 passengers and will be fitted with ultra-modern facilities besides other high safety features including provision for generators,” Braganza said.
The speed of the solar-powered boat will be 10 knots and it will cover the Aldona-Panjim distance in 45 minutes as against nearly two hours required to cover the same distance by road. The normal operating speed of the conventional ferryboat is 5 to 6 knots.
The solar-powered boat has been designed and construction supervised by the Classification Society.
Currently the work of constructing a jetty is on at Chorao and it will be ready by August. The passengers can use the jetty to board the boat, sources said.
