National Waterways-4 - a 1,078 km stretch from Puducherry to Kakinada canal systems - will be developed for safe navigation of small cargo vessels.
As a first step, the 37-km stretch between Sholinganallur and Kalpakkam of South Buckingham Canal will be developed at a cost of Rs 123.40 crore, said shipping minister GK Vasan.
The NW-4 covers Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Puducherry. The canal systems will be eventually integrated with Godavari and Krishna River systems.