In order to increase navigability of the country’s rivers and ensure smooth waterway communication, Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) has started the process of procuring 55 new dredgers, reported the UNB.
According to the officials, 55 dredgers will be procured under two separate projects – Procurement of 20 dredgers and ancillary machinery; and Procurement of 35 dredgers and ancillary equipment and accessories.
BIWTA expects that the first ten dredgers under the project of ‘Procurement of 20 dredgers and ancillary machinery’ will be inducted into its fleet within a short time.
Once the project is fully implemented, it will be possible to meet around 70.81 percent of the annual dredging requirement of the country, said BIWTA.
The dredging would keep ferries, lunches, cargo vessels and other river vessels functional on domestic river routes round the year.
At the moment, for dredging big rivers like Padma, Meghna and Jamuna BIWTA needs 28 inch and 24 inch cutter suction dredgers.
For medium rivers 20 inch and 18 inch cutter suction dredgers are required while for small rivers that have poor navigability BIWTA needs 12 inch cutter suction dredgers.