The waterways of the country have declined from 24,000 kilometres to only around 5,000 kilometres due to pollution and grabbing of the land of rivers and canals in last 50 years.
A recent report published by the National River Conservation Commission (NRCC) of Bangladesh said that around 19,000 out of 24,000 kilometres of waterways of the country have become phased out due to pollution and grabbing of rivers and filling up of the rivers and canals after the independence of the country. At present there are only around 5,000 kilometres of waterways in the country.
Due to the disappearance of the waterways, transportations through the waterways are being hampered as well as various water transports are facing severe crisis in their movements, the report says.
According to the report of the NRCC, the waterways of the riverine Bangladesh are declining day by day as a section of unscrupulous people under the shelters of political and influential people are grabbing the lands of rivers and canals. They are building industries and installing various other business establishments on the banks of the rivers.
Besides, the NRCC report said that they identified around 63,000 illegal grabbers of the land of rivers and canals across the country while over 18,000 of the illegal structures have been evicted in last one year.
Meanwhile, official sources said, the government has decided to excavate 178 ‘dead’ rivers and make them navigable again by 2025. The aim is to resume water flows in the rivers stretching some 10,500 kilometres of the waterways.
Under the dredging master plan, the project will cost Tk 50,000 crore, said officials of the Ministry of Shipping.
State Minister for Shipping, Khalid Mahmud Chowdhury, recently told the National Parliament that the government is working on the development of waterways. An initiative has been taken to increase the waterways by excavating 10,000 kilometers of the waterways. When the work of this project is completed, there will be a huge change in the entire water communication sector.
“We are working on the implementation of the project with utmost importance,” he said.
He also said, “Before 1980, the length of the country's waterways was 24,000 kilometers. But it came down to 6,000 kilometers due to negligence to the rivers and waterways, lack of proper planning, supervision and change in nature as well.”
Government official sources said, the present government led by Sheikh Hasina has excavated 600 kilometres of waterways in last one decade since it came to power. As a result, the length of the waterway currently stands at 7,600 kilometers. Works to excavate 10,000 km of waterways in 178 more rivers across the country is underway.
The Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) sources said that it has prepared a draft master plan to increase navigability of 10,000 km of waterways in the country by 2025. The draft plan of the project focus on 80 rivers of haor or wet land, hill and southern areas, including more than 50 rivers in Barisal and Khulna divisions.
BIWTA hopes that if the huge task is implemented, the country's water communication system will greatly improve. Besides, irrigation facilities and fish farming will also increase to a great extent. Tourism industry will be developed too.
Ashish Kumar Dey, general secretary of the National Committee for the Protection of Shipping, Roads and Railways, said, "We want initiatives to be taken to increase waterways in the country. But due to various complications, the waterway is not being expanded. Conversely, waterways are declining every year. The old river routes are being closed. Traffic is also declining due to less passengers.
He said, in other parts of the world, artificial waterways are being created to facilitate safe passenger journeys and cargo transportation. Our country naturally has huge waterways. But due to lack of supervision and proper planning, we are not able to utilize the huge waterways.
