Navy likely to help in dredging

BAGERHAT, Jan 30 (UNB): The government may call in the Navy members to put in their efforts in the ongoing dredging of a 22-km silted-up stretch of the Mongla-Ghashiakhali channel in the Kumarkhali River so that the route may regain its navigability as soon as possible, according to officials at Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA).

Under a Tk 2.50 billion (250 crore) project, the BIWTA on July 1 last year started dredging of the 22-km long Mongla-Ghashiakhali channel, which lost navigability three and a half years back. BIWTA chairman Dr M Shamsuddoha Khandker said Bangladesh Navy (BN) had already conveyed their interest in taking part in dredging of the channel.

"A letter seeking administrative approval for their proposal has already been sent to the ministry concerned. The Navy will be given the responsibility to dredge a portion of the channel after the approval," he said.

Shamsuddoha noted that the BIWTA is putting in all their efforts to renovate the channel and the Navy's participation alongside the BIWTA in the dredging would speed up the work, he observed.

The dredging plan had also been readjusted a bit in other respects, said the BIWTA chief. The channel to be dredged will be 120 feet in the breadth and 10 feet in the depth instead of the earlier target of excavating a channel up to 320 feet in the breadth and 13 feet in the depth.

BIWTA chief engineer M Abdul Matin said they reduced the excavation target to ensure that the channel regains it navigability as soon as possible. In the last seven months' dredging, the BIWTA units managed to excavate about 1.3 million (13 lakh) cubic metres of silt from the river bed. In total, about 10 million cubic metres of silt had to be excavated under the reset target, he added. Deputy Commissioner of the district M Jahangir Alam said the channel would regain its navigability on excavation, but only during the high tide every day.

Some more efforts would be needed to maintain the navigability of the channel. They include removal of the mounds at the mouths of many canals linked to it and dredging the silted up canals to ensure the free flow of water and silt flow through them, he said.

So far, the administration has identified 32 canals -- 13 in Rampal upazila and 19 in Mongla upazila - needing dredging, he added.