Over the last two decades, Bangladesh has spent a large amount of money to restore its waterways by dredging the rivers across the country to clear some silt and sand. The government planned to make the waterways navigable for carrying goods and passengers, to reduce the pressure on roads and transportation costs. According to the Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA), out of Bangladesh’s 24,000 kilometers (14,900 miles) of waterways, only about 6,000 km (3,730 mi) are navigable by mechanized vessels during the monsoons. During the dry seasons, this shrinks to about 3,800 km (2,360 mi). In an effort to expand the waterways and ensure navigability throughout the year, Bangladesh Water Development Board (BWDB) — under Bangladesh’s ministry of water resources — and BIWTA — under the shipping ministry — have been jointly managing the capital and maintenance of dredging every year for two decades under a master plan. This project is dependent on public money. Dredgers that are regularly used to dredge the Meghna River remain stationed in Brahmanbaria, eastern Bangladesh. Image by Rafiqul Islam. Plans for dredging Capital dredging is a method of creating new waterways by increasing the depth of a channel by dredging, while maintenance dredging is a regular activity to clear silt and sediment from the channels of bigger rivers. As per the master plan announced in 2012, 178 rivers are supposed to be dredged gradually over time to maintain regular navigation channels and create 10,000 km (6,213 mi) of new waterways. Of them, 53…This article was originally published on Mongabay
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