The government has taken a big project to dredge 11 kilometer (km) channel of Mongla Port to increase navigability for facilitating bigger container vessels to anchor at the jetty.
The planning commission has already prepared a proposal of the 3-year long project involving Tk 794 crore, which is likely to be placed in the meeting of the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) today, the sources in the planning commission and the ministry of shipping said.
At present, the depth of the navigability of 30 km areas of the outer bar (from the Bay of Bangle to entry point of the river Pasur) and inner bar (Joymanirgol to Jetty of the Mongla port) is five to six meters. And that’s why, the 9.5 meters depth container ships can to anchor at the jetties of the port, the sources said yesterday.
Talking to The Independent, a high official of shipping ministry said the cost and time of cargo transportation have been increased as big ships can’t anchor at the jetties of the port due to poor navigability at the channel.
At present, the Pashur river has 7-8 metres of draft. But 8.5-9.5 metres draft depth is needed for relatively
bigger container vessels to anchor at the jetty, according to port users
“It will be possible to anchor 9.5 meters depth container ships to the port jetties after completion of the project by 2022,” shipping ministry official said.
“We will be able to increase the capacity of the port after completion of the project successfully,” he added.
According to the proposal, the use of the Mongla Port would be increased in 2021 after completion of the Rampal Coal-fired power plan and start operation of the country’s nuclear power plant in Rooppur.
“At least, 45 lakh tonnes of raw materials of the Rampal coal-fired power plant and raw material of nuclear power plant would be imported through the sea port,” the proposal added.
As per a recent survey conducted by the Khulna University of Engineering and Technology, there is a possibility to handle 8.72 lakh TEU (twenty-foot equivalent) containers in 2025, and 45.32 lakh containers and over 30,000 vehicles in 2050.Currently, the port can handle 54,000 containers.
