The New Nation - Internet Edition

IN spite of relative advantage over other modes of transport inland water transports have reportedly halved over last thirty years. The World Bank gave such a picture of this traditional and environment friendly transport system in a study report. The share of Inland Water Transport (IWT) in terms of carrying passengers has decreased from sixteen percent in 1975 to eight percent in 2005. In cargo transport, IWT’s share in 1975 was 37 percent, which has reduced to 16 percent within three decades. In contrast, the share of road communication increased from 54 percent in 1975 to as high as 88 percent in 2005.

The study attributed the squeezing of IWT’s share to poor operation conditions and inadequate regulations and involvement of authorities in service delivery. While lack of sufficient attention and inefficient management is a factor in the poor state of this sector, misplaced development priorities ignoring the natural feature of the country is its root cause. The transport development plan failed to give due importance to the network of hundreds of rivers.

Bangladesh has a network of about 24,000 km of rivers. During the monsoon the navigable river route stretches over 6,000 km, which reduces to 3,800 km in the dry season. Transport cost in the waterways is much less. Loss of lives in the waterways is also relatively less. Use of water transport is estimated to save 58.5 million litres of diesel and reduce emission of 155,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide per year. About ten lakh country boats ply along the rivers and constitute a major source of employment in the rural areas. Therefore, comprehensive plans need to be taken up to revive the water transport sector. Motorised water vessels, however, are a potential source of river pollution, which should be kept under check.