14 new water buses for Dhaka circular waterway

Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Corporation (BIWTC) is planning to add 14 new water buses soon to its existing fleet to cater to the increased passengers' demand, a senior official in the Corporation said. The total number of water buses will reach at 16 after the launching of new ones. Officials said the BIWTC has recently floated a tender to buy four more water buses to help reduce Dhaka's perennial traffic congestion. They said the rest of the buses will be procured by the private sector. "We will streamline our circular waterways around the capital. Water transport is economic and less time-consuming," said Ziaul Islam, Executive Engineer (Marine Construction) of BIWTC. The four buses may cost the Corporation at Tk 50 million, Mr Islam said. The remaining 10 will be sourced from private sector as entrepreneurs have expressed their keen interest in the sector, officials said. Chairman of the Nitol-Niloy Group Abdul Matlub Ahmed told the FE that his company has taken the decision to buy ten units of luxurious water buses from an Indian company to operate in the circular waterway of the city. He also said two of them will start journey by July this year and rest of the buses will be imported in phases. BIWTC is now operating two 35-seater water buses on Sadarghat-Gabtoli route for the last eight months and charging Tk 30 per passenger. "After launching all buses, it will positively become a profitable venture, considering the huge demand," Mr Islam said. He said that shortage of approach roads is the main obstacle of making the transport more popular. The new buses will be 55 seated, more luxurious, speedy and bigger in size from the existing ones. The water vessels take around 40 minutes to reach Sadarghat from Gabtoli, while it takes more than two hours to reach by road. The total circular water way in and around the city is 110-km. Three Angle Ship Builders and Bandar Construction have jointly built and supplied the existing 35-seater water buses to BIWTC. But now, the Corporation is not interested to take any more water buses from them since those were found faulty in design, a high official told the FE requesting anonymity. Narayangonj dockyard, Dhaka dockyard, Khulna shipyard and some others have also shown interest to supply new water buses. BIWTC is a state owned autonomous body which has been in profit since 2001. Last year, it earned Tk 3.08 billion and this year it has set a target of Tk 3.87 billion in earnings. - Badrul Ahsan