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Karnaphuli Dredging

Work goes on at snail’s pace

Ctg Port Authority takes months but has not yet approved design

Dwaipayan Barua, ctg
Work on the capital dredging project in river Karnaphuli is moving at a snail's pace as its contractor blames it on the delay in getting the final design from Chittagong Port Authority (CPA).
“We are yet to receive the approved design from the CPA. So it's very difficult for us to expedite the project,” Azhar Marzuki, local manager of Malaysian Maritime and Dredging Corporation (MMDC) said yesterday.
The final design was supposed to be handed over to the contractor at the time of signing of the agreement, on April 28, Local Agent of MMDC Abu Jafar Md Saleh said.
Since the beginning of the project on May 12, MMDC has so far completed 10 percent of the work, when they have to accomplish the scheme in 600 days.
The Tk 229.54 crore project titled "Capital Dredging and Bank Protection Work" is also delayed due to intervention of some locals, who identifying themselves as activists of Bangladesh Chhatra League and Jubo League, demanded toll over transporting sand.
Abu Jafar told The Daily Star yesterday that those who wanted to get the job of transporting the dredged earth-mixed-sand hampered the transport for some five days.
Malaysian High Commissioner to Bangladesh Jamaluddin Sabeh and Shipping Minister Shahjahan
Khan discussed the matter a few days back Both of them visited to see the dredging at different spots yesterday. Shipping Secretary Abdul Mannan and CPA Chairman Commodore Anwarul Islam among others were present during the visit in Firingibazar, Sadarghat and the Third Karnaphuli Bridge areas.
Speaking to journalists after the visit, the minister admitted that some allegations were raised and gave an assurance to investigate the matter. The CPA and the contractor would solve the problems through discussion, he said.
Shahjahan, however, claimed that the dredging work has so far been done smoothly despite those constraints and hoped that the project would be done on schedule.
Sources said the shipping minister in a meeting with the MMDC officials at the CPA Rest House yesterday afternoon assured them of all-out support. He also directed the CPA officials to finalise the design soon.
As per the project profile, around 2km of the river — stretching from Sadarghat jetty to some 500 metre off the Third Karnaphuli Bridge — would be dredged and a 2,615-metre-long marine driveway with bank protection and a 400-metre jetty would be constructed.
Once the project is implemented, the government hopes navigability of the river would be improved while vessel congestion would also be reduced significandy and waterlogging in the port city would be solved.