Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Corporation (BIWTC) is about to start a new waterbus service on the water routes around the city. BIWTC chairman Gulam Mostafa Kamal told The Independent that an order has already been given to Dhaka Dockyard for building four new waterbuses at a cost of Tk 50 lakh each. The new buses will be operational within six to eight months. Each bus will have 70 passenger seats, toilet, restroom, luggage carrier while security will also be available on the new buses.
It may be recalled that a waterbus service was launched on August 28, 2010, for the Gabtoli-Sadarghat route aiming to ease the city’s nagging traffic congestion.
At that time, Shipping minister Shahjahan Khan had inaugurated two waterbuses Buriganga and Turag on the route. However, the service was shut down on June 10, 2011 – after hardly 10 months of its operation and a damage of Tk 1.11 crore was taken from the government.
Alleged irregularities, mismanagement, reluctance on part of the operators and gradual deceleration of speed are said to be the main causes of the failure of the waterbus service. However, the authority claims that the service had not stopped completely. Moreover, now they are coming up with new buses that will bring great results, according to them.
Sources in BIWTC revealed that to run the previous waterbus service for 11 months, the government had spent Tk 62 lakh but it was only able to earn Tk 22 lakh from the same and the damage for running the service was Tk 40 lakh.
Allegations were also raised against the production cost of the waterbuses. It was shown that Tk 35 lack was spent for each of the waterbuses that got technical problems only two days after their functioning had begun.
However, BIWTA chairman Abdul Malek Mia outright refused the allegations. “No irregularities had happened in the building of waterbuses,” he reiterated.
Deputy director of the waterbus building institution ‘Three Angel Marin Consultants’ Engineer Aminul Islam said, “We import the waterbus engine from England as per government order and build the buses as per the approved design.”
However, during investigations over the waterbus service, The Independent found that problems such as unskilled drivers, unpunctuality, lack of water support, lifebuoy, fire extinction facilities and toilets were the main causes for which the service was shut down.
Admitting the problems, assistant general manager of BIWTC Zillur Rahman told The Independent that due to the shortage of skilled manpower and tickets, it was very difficult for them to maintain the travel schedule.
Meanwhile, Gulam Mostafa Kamal persisted that the service has not been stopped entirely and at least one or two waterbuses are still operational. The BIWTC chairman admitted that the two waterbuses are in bad shape, however, added, “After repairs, ‘Turag’ is almost ready for the service while Buriganga is in better shape now.”
Earlier, a statement from BIWTC had said that the cost of each 35-seated waterbus was Tk 55.75 lakh. Each bus used 28 litres of fuel to move at a maximum speed of 22.8 km per hour. From Sadarghat to Gabtoli, the fare was fixed at Tk 30, from Sadarghat to Swarighat and Swarighat to Kholamura Tk 20 whereas the fare from Kholamura to Gabtoli was fixed at Tk 10.
-With The Independent input
