DCCI pushes integrated waterway strategy to cut transport costs, ease congestion
The DCCI president proposes a nine-point roadmap that includes replacing short-term dredging contracts with five-to-10-year performance-based PPP agreements.
Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCI) President Taskeen Ahmed has called for a long-term, performance-based public-private partnership (PPP) framework to revive Bangladesh's rivers and canals, warning that decades of neglect are driving up transport costs, worsening congestion and undermining economic efficiency.
Taskeen made the call while presenting a paper titled "Revitalising Circular Waterways and Inland Trade" at a seminar held at the DCCI Auditorium in Motijheel today (29 July), reports UNB.
He said Bangladesh's more than 1,415 rivers and a historical canal network of roughly 24,000 kilometres form the backbone of the country's economy. However, more than 55% of canals are now silted up or encroached upon.
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Dry-season navigability has fallen to 3,865 kilometres from around 6,000 kilometres during the monsoon, while 77% of freight is still transported by road despite waterways offering a cheaper and cleaner alternative, he said.
The DCCI president said transporting cargo by inland waterways between Dhaka and Chittagong costs 55-60% less than road transport and is four to eight times more energy-efficient per tonne-kilometre. Despite these advantages, waterways account for only about 7% of national freight movement measured by weight-distance.
He described the 112-kilometre Dhaka Circular Waterway as an underutilised asset, blaming encroachment of the Tongi Canal, the failure of feeder services for earlier waterbus operations and a policy focus on mega infrastructure projects.
According to Taskeen, shifting just 20% of truck freight to the circular waterway could help reduce Dhaka's annual congestion losses, which he estimated at between $3 billion and $7 billion.
He identified rapid re-siltation, land encroachment, inadequate long-term financing, fragmented governance among agencies including the Bangladesh Water Development Board, the Local Government Engineering Department and the Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority, environmental safeguards and climate variability as the main challenges to sustainable waterway restoration.
The DCCI president proposed a nine-point roadmap that includes replacing short-term dredging contracts with five-to-10-year performance-based PPP agreements.
