Mongla Port to get Tk 2,533 cr water treatment plant

The Ministry of Shipping has initiated a move to set up a Surface Water Treatment Plant at Mongla Port spending Tk 2,533 crore to cope with the massive development activities centering the port.

The ministry has proposed a draft project to this end titled 'Establishing Surface Water Treatment Plant for Mongla Port' to the Planning Commission.

The Mongla Port Authority will implement the proposed project by June 2019 with fund from the national exchequer.

A pre-evaluation committee (PEC) meeting on the proposed project was held on August 17 with the Planning Commission recommending to approve the project with some revisions in the project proposal.

"The proposed project will soon be placed before the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec) for its consideration," said a Planning Commission official.

Another official of the ministry said the government has taken an initiative to implement massive development works centering the Mongla Port through implementing the Padma Bridge Project, setting up Khulna-Mongla rail link, ensuring gas supply through pipeline, construction of Khan Jahan Ali Airport, establishing 1320MW coal-based power plant at Rampal beside the Mongla Port, and Special Economic Zone with a joint initiative by both Bangladesh and India.

To deal with such large development working extravaganza over the next two years, some 1,200 commercial ships will be handled every year through Mongla Port for which there is a need for ensuring huge safe drinking water.

"This project has been proposed to meet the demand for safe drinking water of seagoing ships, port offices and residential areas, and to meet the demand of water of various government and private agencies adjacent to the port," the Shipping Ministry official added.

The main project operations include procuring and setting up one clariflocculator, procuring and setting up three river water intake pumps (centrifugal), installation of six automated DTW (with pumping capacity of 50 cubic meter per hour), installing one reverse osmosis system (200 cubic meter per hour), setting up some 3,500 meter inter-connecting pipe line for DTW, setting up 2000 meter pipe line connection river to row water storage tank, and conducting necessary fitting, fixing and electrification works.

The ministry official said efforts were also there in the past to meet the water demand at the Mongla Port, but those proved inadequate with the passage of time.

Based on a survey by the Department of Public Health and Engineering (DPHE) , an interim safe drinking water supply project was implemented in the 1993-93 fiscal at Tk 8 crore through which safe drinking water was used to supply to Mongla Port and the oceangoing vessels.

Later, another project was implemented in fiscal year 2004-05 involving Tk 8.35 crore titled 'Extension and development of safe drinking water at Mongla Port,' but that also proved to be too inadequate to meet the growing water demand.

Source: unb