Excessive siltation threatens ferry routes
Instead
of pointing fingers at other, high-ups of both concerned government authorities must come to a
compromise in order to keep both the ferry route navigable and continue with the construction of the Padma Bridge
On one side we have a massive bridge infrastructure being built, while on the other we are witnessing a very important ferry route nearly on the brink of being blocked because of excessive siltation caused by the former. Yes, the Shimulia -Kewrakandi (now Kathalbari) ferry route will likely to be inoperable from September next according to BIWTA (Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority) sources unless heavy deposits of silt caused mainly because of Padma Multi-purpose bridge authoritys (PMB) dredging is not removed the quickest. The PMB has reportedly refused to use its heavy dredgers to keep the ferry route open, and at the same time has acquired land alongside the ferry channel to dump its own silts. The problem, however, the ferry route lacks sufficient space for dumping spoils. What adds more to the existing dilemma is that, cleaning up the ferry route by regularly removing excessive silt is expensive task.
For instance, according to BIWTA 14 lakh cubic metre of silt was removed during the 2014-15 fiscal year at a cost of Tk 21 crore and some Tk 36 crore more was spent to remove 22 lakh cubic metres of silt from the ferry route during the 2015-16 fiscal year. Moreover, the sum is likely to get higher in the coming days since navigational costs are never constant anywhere around the world. The PMB too, is unwilling to cooperate in this regard since, if their dredgers are used for other purposes like ferry channel dredging, then it has to pay extra financial compensations to the contractor for extended time and usage. Also it has a total number of as few as three dredgers in its current operational fleet. Though the PMB authority proposed to open an alternate channel to keep the ferry route open during the construction of the bridge, but from a technical point of view, introducing a new ferry route is not possible overnight and is also a lengthy technical and expensive procedure. Against the backdrop of this manmade impasse, we expect both BIWTA and PMB to negotiate a reasonable deal before the ferry route becomes non-navigable.
Instead of pointing fingers at other, high-ups of both concerned government authorities must come to a compromise, in terms of allocating funds, manpower and equipments in order to keep both the ferry route navigable and continue with the construction of the Padma Bridge. They both are important for connectivity and our river communications network.
Finally, taking lessons from the arisen setback the government should also systematically increase the BIWTA and PMBs respective capacities by providing more necessary manpower, equipments and expertise.
