Boat that sails on water, land and sand to be made in Koradi

Nagpur: An Indo-Russian private joint venture for building hybrid amphibious aeroboats will be coming up soon at Koradi near the city. The Russian company, International Institute for Advanced Aerospace Technologies (IIAAT), based in St Petersburg, has been instrumental in pioneering the design and development of the hybrid amphibious aeroboat. Its Indian partner is Atul Shirodkar-promoted Chourangi.
Aeroboat is like a speed boat. It is run on a powerful car engine and has body built from aluminium. A presentation was made by Sukrit Sharan, chief coordinator and programme director of IIAAT, at Union transport minister Nitin Gadkari’s office in Ram Nagar. Known to latch on to any fancy idea, the minister was impressed. “It will revolutionize waterways transport in the country which is much neglected,” an enthused Gadkari said.

“At the outset, let me tell you that this project has no involvement of the government, except for providing necessary approvals and clearances. We just showed it to the minister as he is receptive to new breakthrough technological ideas,” said Shirodkar. The engine is hybrid as it can run on petrol or electricity and even on ethanol.

“Its unique feature is it can move on land, marshy conditions, sand or snow and even on shallow water, making it useful in a variety of applications including public transport, rescue operations during floods and other disasters as well as for travel and tourism industry,” said Sharan, who is a distant kin of former Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri. He was here with the Russian team.

Shirodkar said a start has been made by acquiring six acre land adjacent to Koradi Lake. “We plan to work it out in phases and the whole project may take a year to take off. First boats will be imported here in knocked down state. In the second phase, we will start assembling them here,” he said.

“The third phase will see manufacturing the boats followed by research and training facilities. All this will be done in Koradi only,” the Indian partner said. Investment for the aeroboat project will be to the tune of Rs80 crore.

Gadkari said the company plans to operate the aeroboats from November 10 for transport between Allahabad and Varanasi on the Ganges during the ongoing Kumbh Mela when lakhs of people descend there. “The idea has tremendous potential. In Ganga waters, around 2,000 such boats can operate all the way up to Kanpur,” said Gadkari, who is keen on promoting water transport which he claims is much cheaper than road and rail modes.

Six months after the aeroboat project is operational, the Indo-Russian venture will take up Cabline, another revolutionary idea, a ropeway project for transportation, said Shirodkar.