CPA to dredge Karnaphuli after 18 yrs to ensure safe movement of ships

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Jasim Uddin Haroon
Chittagong Port will start a Tk 4.11 billion dredging of the river Karnaphuli to keep the country's most import port channel navigable for ocean going ships and prevent vessels from being run aground, officials said Saturday.
The biggest dredging work by the Chittagong Port Authority (CPA), which handles some 90 per cent of the country's US$32 billion foreign trade, would commence by July after it gets approval from the shipping ministry, Hadi Hossain Babul, a member of the port, told the FE.
"Dredging of the Karnaphuli has become a must if we want to ensure smooth operation of the Chittagong Port," Babul said, adding once the work is finished it would double shipping movement in the key river channel.
"Now, ships remain extra cautious as they move in the Karnaphuli channel.
But once we finish the dredging work, ships won't have to be worried about running aground. They can move freely. Besides, around 150 small vessels will be able to anchor on the other side of the port," he said.
The port took up the massive project some four years back after silts filled up around two and a half kilometers stretch of the river between the key Kalurghat and Sadarghat areas in the port city.
Since then a major part of the estuary have become a 'no go' area for big ocean going vessels, hampering trade and adding cost to freight.
The CPA said it would also build a concrete-structure 'marine drive' on the right bank of Karnaphuli river to facilitate smooth inland transportation of cargoes.
"It will beautify the port to a great extent and attract more tourists in the city," said Khademul Bashar, CPA's deputy estate manager.
The project will be self-financed by the CPA. Earlier Japanese government wanted to provide a fund worth Tk 740 million for the project but it later withdrew the money due to delay in project implementation.
Mr Hadi said: "We will invite international tender to implement the project as soon as we get the approval of the shipping ministry."
Earlier, Chittagong Port conducted two such dredging of the estuary of the river Karnaphuli. One was done in 1981 by a Holland-based company and another was in 1990 by a Chinese company --China Harbour.
The CPA earlier in 2007 floated tender for the planned project but it was later cancelled mainly because of charges of irregularities in the tender procedures.