The dredging of outer bar area of Mongla Port channel has been completed ahead of the scheduled time and the new dredged channel was comissioned to the large merchant ships to utilise Mongla Port.
Commenced on January 13 in 2019, the project was completed on December 03 in 2020, two weeks ahead of scheduled time despite the ongoing pandemic. The contractor, HKRE-CCECC JV, mobilised three giant dredger facilities including two hopper dredgers and one of the world’s largest cutter suction dredgers, the 40-inch Xin Hai Teng for the execution of the project and yielded great success even they had to wade through three devastating cyclones- Fani, Bulbul and Amphan and two monsoon seasons during the contract period to make that happen, said a press release.
The main component of the works has been executed under the contract was dredging of 11 km channel with total dredging volume of 11.91 million cu.m up to design depth (-8.50 CD below) by Trailing Suction Hopper Dredger (TSHD) and Cutter Suction Dredger (CSD). The Scope of Works also included all pre/post/interim hydrographic survey and construction of cofferdam.
Rear Admiral M Shahjahan, Chairman of Mongla Port Authority said in an interview with Rtv, “The Contractor Company has completed the work by 1st week of December which was prior to deadline. Upon the completion of the works, Mongla Port could achieve the desired depth of channels which would vastly increase the navigability of the Mongla Port. Now we are able to take 8.5 meter draft ship to the port and we are expecting to serve 10 meter draft ships soon”.
“As a world-renowned leading contractor in infrastructure including marine works, we take Bangladesh as a prospective market and we are keen to contribute to the socio-economic development of the nation and materialising of the Golden Bangla Dream,” said the Project Manager, Li Guangqi from China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation, JV Partner of the contractor Company.
Mongla Port is set to expand dredging the inner bar of Mongla Port channel to facilitate the anchoring of container ships with drafts of 10 meters of the port from January next year. Once the Padma Bridge becomes fully operational next year, with the continuous development and improvement of the port facilities and road connectivity from the port to Dhaka and North Bengal, Mongla Port has the potential of handling 10,000 ships by 2050, becoming the transport hub for Bangladesh and neighboring countries including India, Nepal and Bhutan.
