Green activists on Monday urged the shipping ministry to stop irregularities and corruption in river dredging and ensure transparency across the country. Nurur Rahman Selim, president of Green Club of Bangladesh and Haji Mohammad Shahid Mia, president of National Committee to Protect Shipping, Roads and Railways, made the demand in a joint statement.
Only 49 percent work was completed in last seven and a half years of a 9-year project while 65 percent taka of total cost has already been spent, the statement said. Quoting several media reports, the right activists said that the government approved a 24-river route dredging project in 2012 and gave Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority Tk 1,923 crore for restoring 2,386 kilometer waterways between July 2012 and June 2021.
But the BIWTA restored only 1,180 km waterways in last seven and a half years spending Tk 1,257 crore, including Tk 200 crore in the ongoing fiscal year, according to the statement. Though the project is one of the priority projects of the Prime Minister the rate of implementation is not satisfactory due to BIWTA officials’ irregularities and corruption, the leaders alleged.
