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As part of a plan to introduce speedboat services on waterways surrounding Dhaka city, the Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) has launched speedboat services on Tongi-Kodda and Tongi-Ulukhola routes.
It would take 25 minutes to go from Tongi to Kodda and the fare will be Tk 150 while Tongi to Ulukhola would take 19 minutes costing Tk 120.
A private company will provide the services from morning to evening on pilot basis with five speedboats.
State Minister for Shipping Khalid Mahmud and State Minister for Youth and Sports Zahid Ahsan Russell inaugurated the service at the Tongi river port in Gazipur on Saturday morning.
Speedboats for two more routes — Kodda-Gabtoli and Gabtoli-Sadarghat — will be introduced gradually depending on passengers’ response, according to BIWTA.
Mohammad Rafiqul Islam, director of the BIWTA Department of River Safety and Traffic Management, said that private company Infinity Maritime is operating the boats on the routes they have inaugurated.
“The speedboats used to provide services at the Mawa ghat. But after the inauguration of Padma Bridge, their demands dropped and were sitting idle. The boats were shifted to the new route to provide speedy service for the city dwellers experiencing slow movement of traffic on the roads due to increasing traffic congestion,” he said.
Previously, water buses were launched around the capital in 2004, 2010, 2013 and 2014, but all initiatives failed because of passenger shortage and huge operational cost.
