The parliamentary standing committee on the Ministry of Shipping on Tuesday recommended that the Chattrogram Port Authority (CPA) should take immediate steps to remove discarded plastic and polythene junks from the Karnaphuli river bed. The committee made the recommendation at its 7th meeting held at Jatiya Sangsad (JS) Bhaban with committee chairman Major (retd) Rafiqul Islam in the chair.
The waste plastic goods and polythene bags dumped in the Karnaphuli river are obstructing the port activities and capital dredging of Karnaphuli that began on September 27 last year. Committee members –Shajahan Khan, Ranjit Kumar Roy, Mahfuzur Rahman, Dr Shamil Uddin Ahmed Shimul, M Aslam Hossen Sawdagar and SM Shahjada, among others, attended meeting.
The committee members also discussed widely about how and in what way the sustainable capacity of CPA can be enhanced and strengthened. The ruling Awami League government is working to construct a Bay Container Terminal with Indian credit to enhance the capacity of CPA which will reduce ship congestion at the port.
An 11-km long char has emerged about some 800 meters off the coast. It was not visible before 1990 and a channel has also been created there where the sea-depth in some areas is up to 10 meters. The outer anchorage of the Chittagong Port is also near to the area where sea-depth is 12 to 13 meters. The shipping ministry has a target to launch the Bay Container Terminal by 2021 upon completion of the first phase of its works.
According to the CPA, now ships can anchor at the Chittagong Port at maximum 9.5 metres of depth. Once the Bay Container Terminal is constructed, ships with a length of over 190 metres will be able to anchor at the terminal at maximum 12 metres of depth. The distance of Chattagram Port from the outer anchorage is now 15 kilometres and this distance will come down to only one kilometre once the terminal is set up.
Besides, 35 ships will be able to anchor simultaneously from No 1 jetty to NCT of against the current 19 ships. Besides, discussion on issues relating to development projects and various problems of Mongla Port has also been taken place. Among others, Shipping Secretary, high ups of Chattogram and Mongla Ports and the parliament secretariat were present in the meeting.
