State Minister for Shipping Md Razib Ahsan today directed the Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) to strengthen its activities to build a modern, safe, and technology-driven inland water transport system while increasing revenue collection. He issued these directives at an exchange of views titled "Increasing the Authority's Revenue Income and Improving Service Quality", held at the BIWTA headquarters in Dhaka.
The state minister emphasised that BIWTA must become a more efficient and service-oriented organisation to support the goal of building a prosperous Bangladesh. He stressed the need to ensure quick, safe, and quality services, maintain river navigability, and promote the wider use of automation and digital technologies in port management to improve transparency and accountability.
Razib Ahsan also called for planned and cost-effective dredging operations, optimum utilisation of existing resources, and the identification of new sectors for revenue generation. At the meeting, he issued a seven-point directive that included prioritising the dredging of important waterways, improving navigational aids, expediting the leasing of pending ghats, updating foreshore and riverbank usage fees, ensuring the speedy disposal of related civil cases, gradually introducing automation in cargo handling at river ports, and strengthening coordination among stakeholders to ensure watercraft safety.
Earlier, BIWTA Chairman Md. Muhidul Islam presented the organisation's progress in dredging, navigation safety, port management, revenue collection, and digital transformation. The state minister's directives aim to enhance the overall efficiency and safety of the inland water transport system, which is crucial for Bangladesh's economic development and connectivity.
