Only 22pc of dredging project completed in four years

Syful Islam | Published: June 08, 2015 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2024 06:01:00

Only 22 per cent works of a dredging project has been completed in the stipulated five-year period, officials said.
The Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA), the implementing agency of the project, is now seeking extension of the tenure by one more year.
However, BIWTA chief could not confirm whether completion of the rest 78 per cent works would be possible within the extended period.
He blamed lack of adequate number of dredgers for the delay in implementation of the project.
Officials said the project - dredging of 12 important river routes - began in October 2011 was scheduled to be completed by June 2015 at a cost of Tk 5.08 billion.
They said the dredging work of the project was started five months late, after taking necessary administrative approval. Some 31.60 million cubic metres sand and mud were to be removed from the 12 river routes under the project.
BIWTA dredgers were to remove 12.60 million cubic metres and the rest 19 million cubic metres were to be removed by private sector dredgers.
Officials said only 6.8 million cubic metres waste could be dredged until March this year due to the lack of dredgers. Besides, they said inadequate disbursement of money in favour of the project also caused delay in its implementation. Until March only Tk 790 million was spent on the project works.
When contacted over phone, BIWTA chairman M Mozammel Huq said BIWTA dredgers were able to dredge only 0.8 million cubic metres of sand and mud until now due to the lack of adequate number of dredgers.
He said apart from the project, the authority is also running two more dredging projects. The BIWTA does not have enough dredgers to complete the projects.
Mr Huq said capital dredging of 53 more river routes was added to the ongoing projects. Of them, work on 24 routes has started while the rest 29 are awaiting approval.
He also said a dredging work in Mongla-Ghasiakhali river route near Sundarbans has started, which is a very important project now.
"We have only 18 dredgers for such a big dredging work. Now we are dredging the river routes which have national priority," he said.
Mr Huq said some 19 more dredgers will join in its fleet by 2019, doubling its capacity.
He said the Word Bank has come up with a proposal to provide Tk 280 million as soft loan for capital dredging of 53 river routes of the country. The proposal is under government scrutiny.
According to the BIWTA projection last December, the water draft of most of the river routes remained below 2.0 metres and highest draft of 3.66 metres remained in a few routes only.
The World Bank's Bangladesh Integrated Transport Sector Study of 1998 showed that the size of waterways in the country stands at 6,000 kilometres (kms) in the rainy season and 3,800 kms in summer which was 8,400 kms and 5,200 kms respectively some four decades back.
Months back a meeting at the shipping ministry was told that poor navigability was disrupting goods transportation through the waterways. Besides, low water flow in the rivers was hampering irrigation and fish production affecting overall economic activities in the country.
"Carrying out capital dredging in rivers across the country has become very essential to improve navigability of waterways," the meeting was told.
The ministry of shipping months back held a meeting to have an idea about the capacity of public and private sector companies on carrying out dredging works.
syful-islam@outlook.com