BANGLADESH REGIONAL WATERWAY TRANSPORT PROJECT 1 BETTER INLAND WATERWAYS LEADING TO MORE DOMESTIC AND REGIONAL CONNECTIVITY APPROVAL DATE: END DATE: TOTAL COMMITMENT: IMPLEMENTING AGENCIES: BASIC June 16 December 31 $360 million Bangladesh Inland Waterways INFORMATION 2016 2025 Authority (BIWTA) OVERVIEW The inland water transportation sector can play an important role in improving domestic connectivity and regional integration. As a riverine country, Bangladesh has a large and vibrant Inland Water Transport (IWT) sector. It has 700 rivers, streams and canals with a total length of about 24,000 km. Approximately 6,000 km are navigable during the monsoon (wet) period, shrinking to about 3,900 km in the dry periods. It carries approximately 194 million tons of cargo and about one- quarter of all passenger traffic. The Bangladesh Regional Waterway Transport Project 1 (BRWTP1) aims to improve the navigability and year-round safe transport for passengers and cargo along the Chittagong-Dhaka-Ashuganj river routes. This will help , shifting traffic away from heavily congested roads along these routes. 106 CHALLENGE TOWARDS THE FUTURE Despite its importance, the IWT has received little attention in the last few decades with limited resources To ensure sustainability of project investments allocated to its development. It receives only 4-7 percent of total transport sector funding. Current issues faced by and sector improvement, several key principles the IWT sector include: (a) lack of funding allocated to maintenance of waterways other than ferry crossing routes have been incorporated in the project design. and consequently inadequate dredging maintenance which fails to address rapid and continuous processes of First, a performance-based maintenance sedimentation; (b) outdated hydrographic capability and limited data acquisition for river maintenance and other approach is being piloted to innovate the planning purpose; (c) poor navigation aid system and very limited night time aids; (d) poor safety culture, including more usual practice for river maintenance outdated rules and regulations, concerning the design, licensing, construction, operation and maintenance of and is a departure from customary dredging IWT vessels, insufficient vessel shelters, and the lack of facilities for searching and rescuing people in distress; and, contracts applied in Bangladesh which have (e) insufficient and dilapidated river port facilities for general cargo trade and passenger transport. Many terminal not achieved desired results. Furthermore, facilities consist of no more than wooden planks for embarking and disembarking passengers and especially the project also focuses on policy, regulatory challenging for mothers with small children, pregnant women, elderly people and the disabled. and institutional development for the IWT sector to improve the competitiveness and attractiveness of IWT, and attract private sector APPROACH investment, maintain competitive transport costs, incentivize modal shift, and get to cost- The BRWTP1 will improve and maintain the navigability of inland waterways along the Chittagong-Dhaka-Ashuganj recovery and profitability for Corridor and connecting routes and support navigation safety improvements. This will help reduce travel time and BIWTA. cost for cargo and passenger transport and boost national and regional trade. The project will build one new general cargo terminal at Pangaon and modernize the existing cargo terminal at Ashuganj. It will also build new passenger terminals at Shashanghat (downstream of Sadarghat) and Madrashaghat (Chandpur); rehabilitate existing passenger terminal at Narayanganj; and extend existing terminal at Barisal. Further, it will help develop River Information Systems (RIS) and provide and, funding for research and development to enable continuing sector improvement and sustainability. This includes work on sector policies and strategies needed to: improve revenue collection and management; incentivize public and private sector investments especially related to container transport; and, mitigate and improve IWT’s impact on the social and physical environment. The project will help improve the Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority’s capacity to comply with international standards; adopt modern management practices for inland water transport; and achieve long-term operational and financial sustainability. EXPECTED RESULTS Increase navigability Reduction of travel time on the Increase in annual revenue tariffs associated with of project river routes Dhaka-Chittagong Corridor for cargo vessels development, maintenance, increased customer satisfaction THE WORLD BANK IN BANGLADESH | 107