The government has drafted rules regarding the installation of bridges, underwater tunnels, pipelines, and overhead cable lines, in a bid to prevent these structures from disrupting the water flow and navigation of inland water transportations.
These rules were formulated to stop authorities from building low-height bridges, installing cable lines that might bar standard water vessels from using such routes, as well as building underwater tunnels and pipelines that might hamper the water flow, officials said.
“We now working on collecting the opinions of stakeholders on the drafted rules before finalisation,” said Department of Hydrography of Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) Joint Director (Tide) and Project Director Md Rokibullah.
The Business Post has obtained a copy of this draft rule.
This proposed rule will apply to the inland waterways that have been used for vessel navigation. If any bridge, overhead line, tunnel, pipeline, or cable line is constructed or installed without the approval of the BIWTA, it will be deemed illegal.
The BIWTA will ask them to be removed, and if not, it will remove such structures, but the authority who built the structure will have to shoulder the expenses.
Many low-height bridges built by different government agencies – such as the Roads and Highways Department (RHD) and Local Government Engineering Department (LGED) – on different rivers across the country have been creating obstacles to the smooth navigation of vessels on the waterways.
At an Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) meeting back in July 2021, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina directed the authorities concerned to build bridges with proper heights so that river vessels, including goods-laden ones, do not have to face any hindrance while plying the rivers.
Two gazette notifications were issued in 2010 and 2018 in this regard, defining the minimum height of bridges. Authorities said they went for the third one to bring some changes and define the process clearly.
New clearance requirements
According to the proposed rules, the inland waterways have been defined into six classes. The waterways that have a minimum depth of 4.5 meters around the year have been defined as special class.
A Class-I route has a 4.0 meter depth, class II has 2.5 meters, and class III is 2 meters around the year.
The class-IV routes are seasonal and have a minimum of 1.5 meters depth during monsoon, while the class-V is under the seasonal routes where water depth never crosses 1.5 meters.
Rules say that the minimum vertical clearance for the routes under special class will be 20 meters from the Standard High Water Level (SHWL).
For the Class-I route the vertical clearance is 18.50 meters, Class-II 12.50 meters, Class-III 8.00 meters, Class-IV 5.00 meters, and Class-V 3.5 meters from the standard high water level (SHWL).
To stretch the cable line over a river, the authorities will need to add more 5-meter vertical clearance.
The rules further mention that before constructing any bridge over the rivers, the authorities must follow the clearance while making the design. They will have to apply to the BIWTA for approval.
It recommended constructing modern technology bridges including Continuous Plate Girder Bridges, Box Girder Bridges, Continuous or Cantilever Truss Bridge, Cable Stayed Bridge, Suspension Bridge or Tunnel to avoid obstructing river flow.
In Class I or II river routes, two bridges cannot be constructed within a one-kilometer gap. If the second bridge needs to be constructed to widen the road, the authorities may approve the second one if it does not hamper the navigability of water vessels, it said.
The rules also ban the practice of river-filling with sand or soil while building a bridge. The navigation should not be stopped during construction. If the construction creates a navigability crisis, the construction authorities will pay to dredge the river to get standard navigability back.
Before starting to build any underwater tunnel, or installing a pipeline or cable line, the constructing authorities will conduct a hydrological and geo-morphological survey, and submit it before the BIWTA for approval. For this approval, they will need to pay certain fees.
Shaon/Sairas/
