The Financial Express, 31 July 2012
The government should introduce passenger vessel on Dhaka-Chittagong route, which will reduce the tremendous pressure on roads and work as an alternative to the transportation between the two cities, said a BUET teacher, reports BSS.
“Merchandise are transported through cargo vessels on Dhaka-Ctg river routes. . . why not passenger vessels,” said Professor M Rafiqul Islam, Head of the Department of Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering of the university.
Talking to BSS, Prof Islam said the passenger vessels could be introduced together with inauguration of the Inland Container River Terminal (ICT) at Pangaon in Keraniganj, which is set to be inaugurated this yearend.
Detailing the idea, he said a 200-feet luxurious cruise liner could be built for the route at a cost of Taka 600-800 million each and it could carry 1000 passengers.
Besides, said the BUET professor, 60-metre double haul catamaran vessels or single haul traditional passenger vessels could be introduced on Dhaka-Ctg route targeting middle-income and higher-income passengers. “It’ll eventually be popular among the local and foreign tourists, too.”
Dr Abdullahel Bari, President of Association of Export-Oriented Shipbuilding Industries Bangladesh (AEOSIB), said distance between Dhaka and Chittagong is around 300 km and a passenger ship carrying 1000 passengers can easily reach Ctg from Dhaka in 10-12 hours.
“Passengers can easily move from Dhaka to Chittagong and Chittagong to Dhaka sleeping overnight on river routes. Thus, it would be considered as a leisure trip too”, said Dr Bari, also chairman of Ananda Shipyard.
He said country’s local shipbuilders that are exporting ships have the proven capability to build such passenger vessels, said Dr Bari.
Tofayel Kabir Khan, managing director of Khan Brothers Shipbuilding Ltd (KBSBL), which built country’s biggest shipyard on 300 bighas of land said, “Of course, this is possible under public-private partnership (PPP).”
Bangladesh Economy 
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