‘53 river routes to be dredged’

Shipping Minister Shajahan Khan on Thursday said the government has taken programmes to re-excavate the unusable rivers of the country to revive their navigability, reports BSS.
“The capital dredging of all 53 river routes of the country would be done,” he said after inaugurating the dredging work of Hazratpur-Zabra route of the Dhaleshwari and Kaliganga rivers on Jamsha bridge side in Manikganj district.It is one of the three river routes dredging projects being implemented under the Prime Minister’s Capital Dredging Project.
Momtaj Begum, MP, Commodore Mozammel, Chairman of BIWTA, Md. Nazmus Sadat Salim, Deputy Commissioner, Advocate Golam Mohiuddin, Chairman, Manikganj Zila Parishad, and Additional SP Zakir Hossain were present at the function among others.The Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) has taken up the dredging projects to restore the Hazratpur-Zabra, Char Tekerhat-Shibchar and Khulna-Noapara river routes at a cost of Taka 97.82 crore.A total of 63 lakh cubic metres of earth spoil are to be removed from the three river routes totalling a length of 121.5 km.
Once big ships and various types of vessels ply these rivers, but they lost their navigability due to silt deposition over time, said Saidur Rahman, Superintendent Engineer of BIWTA.
Dredging would again revive trade and movement of passenger launches through this route. “We have planned to maintain a 10-feet depth so that vessels can move round the year,” he added.
A total of 32 lakh cubic metres of spoil are to be excavated from the Hazratpur- Zabra route at a cost of Taka 43.61 crore, said Rahman.The revival of these river routes would help increase agricultural production in these areas.Farmers would be able to irrigate their fields with the water from these deepened rivers and use them to ferry their produce round the year. The production of fishes would also be increased, he added.

53 river routes to be dredged

Shipping Minister Shajahan Khan on Thursday said the government has taken programmes to re-excavate the unusable rivers of the country to revive their navigability, reports BSS. The capital dredging of all 53 river routes of the country would be done, he said after inaugurating the dredging work of Hazratpur-Zabra route of the Dhaleshwari and Kaliganga rivers on Jamsha bridge side in Manikganj district.It is one of the three river routes dredging projects being implemented under the Prime Ministers Capital Dredging Project. Momtaj Begum, MP, Commodore Mozammel, Chairman of BIWTA, Md. Nazmus Sadat Salim, Deputy Commissioner, Advocate Golam Mohiuddin, Chairman, Manikganj Zila Parishad, and Additional SP Zakir Hossain were present at the function among others.The Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) has taken up the dredging projects to restore the Hazratpur-Zabra, Char Tekerhat-Shibchar and Khulna-Noapara river routes at a cost of Taka 97.82 crore.A total of 63 lakh cubic metres of earth spoil are to be removed from the three river routes totalling a length of 121.5 km. Once big ships and various types of vessels ply these rivers, but they lost their navigability due to silt deposition over time, said Saidur Rahman, Superintendent Engineer of BIWTA. Dredging would again revive trade and movement of passenger launches through this route. We have planned to maintain a 10-feet depth so that vessels can move round the year, he added. A total of 32 lakh cubic metres of spoil are to be excavated from the Hazratpur- Zabra route at a cost of Taka 43.61 crore, said Rahman.The revival of these river routes would help increase agricultural production in these areas.Farmers would be able to irrigate their fields with the water from these deepened rivers and use them to ferry their produce round the year. The production of fishes would also be increased, he added.