Jasim Uddin Haroon

The government has approved the Karnaphuli river capital dredging project worth Tk 3.75billion to keep the country's most important channel navigable for vessels and enhance anchorage capacity of Chittagong port, shipping ministry officials told the FE.

The Chittagong Port Authority (CPA), which handles nearly 90 per cent of the country's US$37 billion foreign trade, will now engage consultant for preparing tender document and other relevant jobs for the biggest ever dredging work.

"We've received an approval letter Thursday. Now, we will hire consultant for the execution of the project," Khademul Bashar, a senior official who is familiar with the project told the FE Thursday.

"Dredging of the Karnaphuli river has become necessary if we want to ensure smooth operation of the Chittagong Port," an official at the planning department said.

Besides, it will generate large amount of revenue for the port authority, as at least 300 coaster vessels will be able to anchor there.

Currently, coaster vessels anchor at the mouth of Karnaphuli, which hinder smooth operation of ocean ships.

"Once we finish the dredging, ships won't have to be worried about running aground. They will be able to move freely. Besides, we will recover 50 acres of lands worth Tk 3.0 billion thorough dredging process," he added.

Under the project, CPA said it would also build a concrete 'marine drive' on the right bank of Karnaphuli river to facilitate smooth inland transportation of cargoes.

The length of the marine drive will be 2.5 kilometres on the north bank of the river of Karnaphuli.

"It will beautify the port to a great extent and attract more tourists in the city," said Khademul Bashar, who is a CPA's deputy estate manager.

The port took up the massive project some four years back after silts filled up around two and a half kilometers stretch of the river between the key Kalurghat and Sadarghat area in the port city.

A major part of the estuary has since become a restricted area for big ocean going vessels, hampering trade and escalating cost of freight.

The project will be self-financed by the CPA. Earlier, Japanese government wanted to provide a fund worth Tk 740 million for the project, but it later withdrew the money due to delay in project implementation.

Earlier, Chittagong Port conducted such dredging of the estuary of the river Karnaphuli twice. One was done in 1981 by a Holland-based company and other was in 1990 by a Chinese company -- China Harbour.

The CPA in 2007 floated tender for the planned project, but it was later cancelled mainly because of irregularities in the tender procedures.