Business Desk :
Trade utilising the inland water transport (IWT) services can serve as one of the key factors for economic recovery in Bangladesh, as well as in South Asia. But lower navigability and inadequate infrastructure at river ports are now the biggest challenges faced by the country.
Despite having a huge potential, the IWT sector could not grow properly due to the lack of waterway maintenance for years, speakers said at a webinar titled “Promoting Inland Waterways: Prospects and Challenges,” organised by Unnayan Shamannay on Tuesday.
Presenting the keynote paper, the organisation’s Research Officer Ayan Soofi said, “The waterways have remained under-invested due to a policy priority for improving the road network.
“Our study found that Bangladesh had allocated Tk1,04,161 crore for road development and maintenance between FY2010-11 and FY2019-20, while the allocation was nearly eight times lower for the IWT sector at only Tk13,084 crore.”
He continued, “Most of the urban centres and industrial belts are located close to the river network, but Bangladesh is yet to fully utilise the massive potential of waterways. However, the government has recently prioritised improving the IWT sector, and taken infrastructure projects in this regard.
“Cargo transportation through the IWT sector increased by 2.60 times in 2019-20, compared to 2017-18. Thus, it can be said that the use of IWT is increasing. But the movement of cargo is still not increasing as expected, due to the high dependency on roadway-based connectivity.”
