PAD - LGED

(iii)Ghats improvement component
18. The methodology described below aims to present the main criteria to prioritize 20 ghats
to be improved under the project.
19. Ten ghats were identified on the two rural waterways to be improved under the pilot rural
waterway transport component, and ten additional ghats were identified on other important rural
waterways in the project area.
20. The RWT component includes development of improved boat landings and
loading/unloading facilities at ten ghats on the two pilot waterways (20 ghats total). A
hydrographic survey was conducted that identified four candidate ghats for the Kaliakoir-
Mirzapur river stretch and three ghats for the Batikandi-Khatalia river stretch. Since there is no
formal classification of ghats, and there are no hydrographic surveys available for the network of
rural waterways in the country, the ten ghats on other rural waterways in the project area were
identified using the methodology described below.
21. Information on rural ghats were requested from all 26 LGED district offices in the project
area if they considered waterway transport to be of significance in their district. This generated
responses from 12 districts and a total of 162 possible ghats.
22. The criteria used for short-listing were as follows:
Step 1: Elimination of ghats not appropriate for project investments in the following areas:
• Where there is a significant risk of river bank erosion (or heavy siltation) – improved
ghats may not be sustainable at such locations.
• Where there is a problem with the availability of land – there was only one case of this in
the sample.
• That are not currently leased out – the fact that a ghat is leased out is an indicator of its
local importance.
• Which function for six months of the year or less – ghats that operate for all or most of
the year are likely to be of greater local importance.
• Which have a daily traffic of 15 or fewer boats per day – the number of boats using a
ghat is an indicator of its importance.
23. This process reduced the long-list of 162 ghats to a short-list of 43.
24. The following criteria was used to identify the ten ghats to be improved under the project:
• Allow only one ghat (the one with the highest daily traffic per upazila), and no more than
two per district.
• Based on local knowledge and experience of LGED officers, those ghats that were not
suitable for development were deleted.
25. This process has generated a priority list of ten candidate ghats. This list, along with
seven ghats identified in the pilot waterways, are the candidate ghats to be improved under the
project. Three ghats to be selected during the third year of implementation, using the criteria and
consultation. The Bank’s approval will be sought to finalize.
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