Govt to revive Ctg-Jeddah sea route for Hajj pilgrims
Monday, 8 February 2010
FE Report
The Shipping Ministry has initiated a plan to revive the sea route between Chittagong and Jeddah to ferry 18,000 Bangladeshi pilgrims from the next Hajj season starting in November.
The waterway would cut Hajj expenditure for each pilgrim up to 40 per cent, compared to the present air-transportation, a ministry source said.
A private shipping line operator has already approached the ministry, offering two passenger ships to conduct six return trips each. Each ship would carry 3,000 pilgrims to the sacred city, the source added.
A Hajj trip by ship would cost US$ 850 (Tk 59,075) for each passenger and would take six to seven days on each trip, the official explained.
To evaluate the proposal, a ministerial meeting Sunday chaired by Shipping Minister Shahjahan Khan formed an 11-member committee, to be headed by Joint Secretary of the ministry M Abdus Kuddus.
The present government took up the issue of reviving the sea link for Hajj pilgrims after more than a decade as the route was suspended in 1985.
The Shipping Ministry has initiated a plan to revive the sea route between Chittagong and Jeddah to ferry 18,000 Bangladeshi pilgrims from the next Hajj season starting in November.
The waterway would cut Hajj expenditure for each pilgrim up to 40 per cent, compared to the present air-transportation, a ministry source said.
A private shipping line operator has already approached the ministry, offering two passenger ships to conduct six return trips each. Each ship would carry 3,000 pilgrims to the sacred city, the source added.
A Hajj trip by ship would cost US$ 850 (Tk 59,075) for each passenger and would take six to seven days on each trip, the official explained.
To evaluate the proposal, a ministerial meeting Sunday chaired by Shipping Minister Shahjahan Khan formed an 11-member committee, to be headed by Joint Secretary of the ministry M Abdus Kuddus.
The present government took up the issue of reviving the sea link for Hajj pilgrims after more than a decade as the route was suspended in 1985.