Bangladesh Regional Waterway Transport Project Charles Kunaka

Senior Trade Specialist Global Product Specialist - Connectivity

ckunaka@worldbank.org

The Project is part of a Regional Program

Bangladesh

• Population: 160m – very high density • GDP: $173bn (2014) • Graduated to lower middle income status in 2015 • Strong GDP growth rates – 6.2% pa since 2010

• However, logistics performance has lagged behind peers

• Ranked 108/160 countries in LPI 2014 • Concern that poor performance is hampering trade

competiveness – order to delivery cycle is up 50% longer than competitors

• Notable weaknesses in Customs and Infrastructure • Development and investments are increasingly

concentrated along the increasingly congested corridor between the Port of Chittagong and the capital, Dhaka

Bangladesh has in Place the Core Logistics Infrastructure

Bangladesh has the ingredients for a low cost and green multi-modal transport and logistics system • Extensive road, rail and inland waterway

transport networks Most traffic is on the core Dhaka – Chittagong Corridor (DCC) • 25% of population • 50% of GDP generated along DCC Rapid containerization … but limited proportion of containers moved inland from port of Chittagong • Infrastructure constraints (e.g. congestion,

bridges; rail capacity)

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Volume of containerized cargo at Chittagong Port

But IWT is underutilized …

Bangladesh has an extensive network of waterways: • 24,000 km of rivers, streams and canals • 6,000km are navigable during monsoon, 3,900

km during dry periods • 50 percent of all Bangladesh’s cargo traffic

(mainly bulk and petroleum products) • Waterways carry one-quarter of all passenger

traffic. • There are over 22,300 registered vessels

engaged in trade. But … • Most cargo is bulk cargo and petroleum products

(construction materials, petroleum products, fertilizers and food grains; fly-ash, gypsum, rice and wheat from India using IWT)

• only 3 percent of total current container through-put at the port is transported by IWT.

There is great potential in IWT …

• IWT sector has received little attention • limited government resources - about 3 – 7% of

transport sector funding in the Annual Development Program, compared to 80% for roads.

• Poor maintenance - high sediment delivery and extremely low gradients leading to shallow depths on bars, delta area, confluences, bends and mouths.

• Reduced navigability during the dry season - Least Available Depth (LAD) only 150 days per year

• Lack of navigational aids • Rudimentary terminal facilities with minimal handling

equipment. • Slow speeds - 40 hours from the Port of Chittagong to

the Inland Container Depot (ICD) near Dhaka (300km) • However …

• The sector is dominated by the private sector, mostly in shipping services ($4bn invested)

• But there is a shortage of appropriate and modern vessels

The Proposed Bangladesh Regional Waterway Transport Project

Objective of project: to improve transport efficiency, reliability and safety for passengers and cargo on inland waterways along the Chittagong-Dhaka-Ashuganj Regional IWT Corridor.

Component IDA Financing (US$ m)

Improve Inland Waterway Navigation 215 Improve Services at Priority Inland Waterway Terminals and Landing Stations

75

Institutional Capacity Development and Sector Sustainability

70

Total 360

Expected Project Impacts

costs transit times

road congestion GHG emissions

accidents Passenger time

Reliability Vessel utilization

Safety Climate resilience Utilization of IWT

Quantitative impacts: • Increase number of days advertised

LAD is available from 150 to 347 days • Increase hours of safe navigation from

current 12 to 24 hours per day • Reduce travel time between Chittagong

and Dhaka from 40 to 30 hours • Improve satisfaction of passengers

Signaling effect that state is taking IWT seriously in the mix of transport modes Investment opportunities:-

• Performance based contracts for capital and maintenance dredging of fairways

• Fleet modernization and innovations in vessel design

• Provision of equipment (survey, simulators, radar, communications, etc.)

• Provision of shipping services, terminals and terminal operations

• Integrated logistics solutions for users

Private sector opportunities…

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More Information: dnguyenvanhoutte@worldbank.org

(Project TTL)