Team Herald
PANJIM: State’s first ever electric-cum-solar boat built by the Aquarius Shipyard, Divar for the River Navigation Department (RND) will be commissioned by mid-May. Also a second concrete floating jetty built at Panjim will be commissioned at the same time.
Captain of Ports James Braganza said, “The solar hybrid electric boat has been built and is ready for commissioning. But we are waiting to commission it along with the new floating jetty being built near ferry point, Panjim. Both will be commissioned by mid-May.”
The Government of India has approved construction of four floating jetties on River Mandovi of which two have already been commissioned near Captain of Ports, Panjim and at Old Goa.
The solar hybrid boat will have an operational speed of 60 knots and will be able to carry 60 passengers at a time. “Once commissioned, the solar boat will be used on Panjim-Chorao route and will also be used for sightseeing or evening river cruise along the Mandovi and Zuari Rivers,” Braganza said.
The solar powered vessel has been built at a cost of Rs 4 crore and depending upon the success of this environment-friendly boat, the government will replace the existing fleet of conventional diesel-powered ferry boats.
Currently, the RND is using diesel-powered ferryboats on about 18 inland water routes.
Meanwhile, RND Minister Subhash Phal Desai on Friday said that the government is contemplating to start ferryboat services between Panjim and Vasco soon so as to reduce traffic movement on the Panjim-Vasco road. He said that the government will introduce innovative ideas to improve condition of existing ferryboats and convince the people to use ferry service which is cheap and better mode of transport.
The decision to build the solar-powered ferryboat was taken after the then RND Minister Sudin Dhavalikar, Captain of Ports and RND officials visited Kochi, Kerala to see the operations of such solar-powered ferryboats.
Chief Minister Dr Pramod Sawant in his budget speech had stated that the government is in process of commissioning the first solar hybrid electric green boat for inland water transport by the end of April, so as to reduce environmental pollution. He had also said that two more conventional ferryboats are under construction and will soon be added to the fleet of 35 ferryboats, to replace the older ones.
