95pc work on Karnaphuli capital dredging completed: CPA chief

FE Team | Published: September 02, 2022 22:19:48

Nazimuddin Shyamol
CHATTOGRAM, Sept 02: Capital dredging of Karnaphuli River, the lifeline of Chittagong Port, will end next month as 95 per cent work of the nearly Tk 2.5 billion project was completed till late last month, officials said.
The Chittagong Port Authority (CPA) in association with Bangladesh Navy is implementing the project started nearly two years ago.
Commander Arifur Rahman, CPA's Chief Hydrographer and also the Project Director (PD), said they completed 95% work of the project and the remaining 5 per cent work will end in October 2022.
He said a total of 5.01 million cubic metres (CM) of garbage or waste were removed from the river bed since the project execution work started in October 2020. He said of the waste dredged out of the river bed so far 50% was polythene.
"The layer of polythene on the river bed was 13 feet thick in almost all the areas dredged so far. At the beginning, we started to dig 13 feet deep to remove polythene from the river bed. But, in many areas of the river, we had to clean a layer of polythene, 21 feet thick, he said. "In early months of the project execution, we frequently failed to clean polythene from river bed with imported suction-dredger as the garbage was very hard to remove. Later, locally-made grab dredgers were used to accomplish the task and we cleaned the thick and hard layer of polythene by the home made machines," he added.
When contacted, CPA Secretary Omar Faruk also said the project will end in Oct. He said after completing the capital dredging, the CPA would carry out another phase of the project - maintenance dredging - to ensure silt and hard waste removal from under the river water and smooth navigation."
Talking with the FE about the project, CPA Chairman Rear Admiral M Shahjahan echoed both of them, saying 100 per cent work of the capital dredging to save the river Karnaphuli as well as Chittagong Port would end in Oct. He said the capital dredging was delayed due to the coronavirus outbreak in 2020 and 2022, and some other complex issues.
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