The Mongla Port Authority has issued work order in favour of Messrs China Harbour and Engineering Company Limited to remove 35 lakh cubic feet silt from the
River Passur at an estimated cost of Tk 106.51 crore.
The process of removing silt is expected to start in the last week of August and the silt would be dumped on fallow lands within the Mongla Export Processing Zone.
The Passur would be made fully navigable for seagoing foreign vessels by January or February next year.
According to the high officials of Mongla Port Authority, the work is expected to be completed in sixty weeks.
The second biggest sea port of the country will get a new lease of life after the implementation of the dredging project.
Besides, Nepal, Bhutan and India are eagerly waiting for using this port as their transit points.
A source of the MPA engineering department told the New Age that the depth of river was 35 feet in 1950 which has now been reduced to 9 feet only because of siltation and as a result, it has become too risky to move freely for the seagoing vessels.
-With New Age input
