Alternative transport for waterways
Photo: Amdadul Huq / driknews
Although waterways is a popular form of water transport, shallow depth of many rivers, canals and beels, compels to take longer detours. Further, shallow draft prevents having permanent ferry crossings and IWT launch terminals and wayside stations. These need to be shifted practically every year or so along with approach roads on both sides of the river for ferry crossings to enable motor vehicles to board the ferry. This is practically a regular problem for most of our land routes where one or even more ferry crossings have to be made. To overcome these bottlenecks, we should actively consider the use of hovercrafts for both passenger and goods traffic. This was at one time quite popular for crossing the English Channel, between Europe and England. Today however, the Euro tunnel under the English Channel has made the hovercraft service redundant. In my opinion, our government could actively take the matter with the UK government to introduce hovercrafts services across our shallow waterways and marshland and other water bodies for direct and easier communication. The use of hovercraft will allow both passenger and cargo traffic across many of our river and other waterways. This will save time and money. In the long run quite possibly the hovercraft service will prove to be economic. It will also encourage the growth of movement of goods and people between the eastern and south-western zones of Bangladesh. Our planners and officials of the Ministry of Inland Water Transport should seriously take up this matter in the overall national interest of Bangladesh. It will pave the way for easy and quicker transport between large areas of habitation now cut-off by shallow marshes and other water bodies where conventional powered riverine vessels cannot now ply because of shallow draft.
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