PAD - LGED

cargo boats and an additional 20 passenger boats per day would navigate the river stretch on a
year-round basis, and that similar numbers of boats would extend their navigation during the low
water season, after removal of the obstacles to low water navigation.
Traffic/
commodity
Passengers
Cargo:
Jute/ bamboo/
timber/
firewood
Table 8.10: Estimated RWT traffic per day after project implementation
Origin/Destination Distance Current
km traffic
Hatubhangar/
Kaliakor (Current)
Gorai/ Kaliakor
(Future)
8
18.5
25
Additional
number of boats
per day (year
round)
20
Extended navigation:
number of boats
(additional distance)
per day during low water
season only
20 (10.5)
Hatubhangar/
50 25
18 (8)
Bhairab (Current)
Gorai/ Bhairab 58
18
(Future)
Pottery Chanpur/ Rayerbazar 60 25
7(8)
(Dhaka) (Current)
Gorai/ Rayerbazar
(Dhaka) (Future) 68
7
Total 75 45 45 (26.5)
Source: Consultant’s estimate based on traffic survey undertaken in March 2011.
Note: The brackets in the last row indicate the additional distance required by river traffic during the low water
season.
37. It was assumed that the economic benefits accruing from the additional traffic would be
realized throughout the year and that incremental benefits would be realized from an equivalent
number of movements (45 per day) during the dry water season (six months) in the stretch
upstream of the existing barrier to navigation. This traffic was believed to be moving already
during the high water season.
38. The traffic segments expected to benefit most from the waterway improvement project
are:
• cargo traffic (notably jute, pottery, bamboo and firewood) moving from
Chanpur/Hatubhangar to Dhaka and other destinations downstream of Dhaka (river
navigation distance 50-60km as compared with 44-54 km by road); and
• passenger traffic between Gorai/Mirzapur and Kaliakor/downstream of Kaliakor (18.5
km by waterway as compared with 16.5 km by road).
39. Longer distance cargo traffic will benefit because road movement of some commodities
during the low water season will be avoided at a considerable saving in operating costs. In
addition, removal of the obstacles to navigation will divert road traffic, especially of
commodities such as pottery which are susceptible to high damage rates if moved by road.
40. In the case of passenger traffic, local communities between Kaliakor and Gorai/Mirzapur
have become accustomed to using road transport, despite the relative inaccessibility of some
communities to high quality, all-season roads. Nevertheless, there are indications of strong
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