Dredging delays Mongla-Ghashiakhali channel reopening until August

BAGERHAT, June 29 (UNB): The formal reopening of the Mongla-Ghashiakhali channel of the Kumarkhali River has been delayed till August this year as some more dredging works in the main channel as well as its adjoining canals still remain to be done.
Dredging of some 3.5 km of the targeted 22-km stretch of the channel is yet to be done while about 81 of its adjoining canals also require to be excavated to make the channel accessible for full swing shipping, according to officials.
Meanwhile, rapid siltation on some parts of the already dredged out channel has been reported.
Earlier on May 12 last, Shipping Minister at a press briefing at the Secretariat told reporters that the plying of vessels through Mongla-Ghashiakhali channel will start in June.
The minister's assurance came following the move by the Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) for allowing a limited number of vessels to ply the route during high tides on an experimental basis from May 6.
Talking to UNB, BIWTA chairman Commodore Mozammel Haque said some 2,500 vessels have plied the channels since the move.
Asked about the delay for the formal reopening, the BIWTA chairman said the dredging could not be done at some portions of the channel mainly because the Bangladesh Water Development Board (BWDB) could not finish cutting the mouths of the canals linked to the channel.
The BWDB has taken a project to cut the mouths of the canals very soon and the dredging of the entire 22-km targeted stretch of the channel as well as the silted up canals can be completed after that, he added.
Md Main Uddin, executing engineer of the BWDB's Bagerhat office, told UNB that they have a plan to gradually excavate 81 canals linked with the Mongla-Ghashiakhali channel, provided the money is allocated for the project.
The BIWTA on July 1 last year started the dredging of a 22-km stretch of the 31-km-long Mongla-Ghashiakhali channel, which lost the navigability three and a half years back, under a Tk-2.50 billion (Tk 250 crore) project with an aim to excavate a channel up to 320 feed in the breadth and 13 feet in the depth.
The BIWTA also set a target to excavate up to 120 feet in the breadth and 10 feet at the preliminary stage to make the channel navigable by June this year.
As per the preliminary target, about 10 million cubic metres of silts needs to be excavated while the BIWTA have so far excavated about 6.5 million cubic metres, noted Commodore Mozammel.
BIWTA superintendent engineer (dredging) AHM Farhad said the excavation of some 3.5 km area of the channel is yet to be done.