PM to open dredged up river route Thursday

The dredging of Mongla-Ghasiakhali channel has been completed with adequate navigability for vessels up to 15-feet draft, officials said.
The channel is expected to be opened formally by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina through video conferencing Thursday.
"It is now ready for a formal opening," Chairman of Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) Mozammel Haque told the FE Monday. The channel is now 270-feet to 300-feet wide and has 12 to 15-feet draft.
The government has improved through dredging the navigability of the channel for vessels as an alternative to Shela River route, which remains sealed for vessels since sinking of an oil tanker in December 2014 that caused spilling over 350,000 litres of furnace oil and posed threat to flora and fauna of the Sundarbans.
The government had taken the dredging project after the incident.
The environmental activists have long been demanding for opening the Mongla-Ghasiakhali channel and closing the Shela River route.
The BIWTA chairman said the Shela River is sealed and the vessels, including the Indo-Bangla protocol ships, are now operating through the Mongla-Ghasiakhali channel. Around 35,000 vessels passed through the channel since October last year.
Replying to a question, he ruled out the possibility of allowing vessels again through the Shela River, particularly in summer when the sea becomes very rough. "The Mongla-Ghasiakhali channel has got enough navigability for vessels with 12-feet draft. There is no need to use other routes."
Officials said the 31-km long channel has become ready for movement of the vessels after dredging up 17.84 million cubic metres till October this year.
At present, they said, some 50 to 70 cargo vessels of 6 to 8-feet draft and 40 to 60 vessels of 10 to 12-feet draft operate through the channel per day. As a result, other routes in the Sundarbans area are not being used.
According to officials, the Centre for Environment and Geographic Information Service (CEGIS) has suggested to dredge the channel regularly to keep it navigable. Each year, some 3.0 million cubic feet of maintenance dredging would have to be carried out.
In May last year, a vessel carrying 500 tonnes of fertiliser sank in the Shela River, followed by another vessel with 1,235 tonnes of coals sank in the river in March this year.
The World Heritage Centre of the UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation) had suggested the government to permanently close the route for all traffic for the sake of existence of the world's largest mangrove forest.
    [email protected]