Techno-economic and environmental impact study of passenger water transport services in and around Dhaka City

Abstract

Dhaka, the capital city of Bangladesh is surrounded by the rivers Buriganga, Sitalakhya, Balu, Tongi and Turag. The encompass of the area is from Tongi in the north to Narayanganj in the south and Jinjira in the west to Demra in the east, an area of about 280 sq. km with a population of about 20 millions. With the growth of population, economic and commercial activities are rapidly increasing and so is the problem with traffic, especially congestion. Many projects have been taken up to mitigate the problem with transportation system but the focus has been on the development of the road transport network. Although surrounded by river system, there is very limited role of water transport in the transport system of the city. Although some projects have been taken up to develop water transport system, but due to some limitations its contribution to the passenger transportation system of the city insignificant until very recently. This thesis work presents the techno economic study and planning of the passenger water transportation system in the circular water channel around the Dhaka city. Six alternative vessels (three mono hull and three catamarans) have been considered with different dimensions and speed. The passenger fare rate has been taken comparable to that of road. The results of the study show that such services can be a very effective alternative to road transport system to many passengers and also are viable for most of the vessels considered. Nowadays environmental issues related to any transportation system are getting more and more importance and hence this thesis also presents a comparison of environmental impacts created by alternative passenger transportation vehicles (three mono hull and three catamarans) in the circular water channel around Dhaka city. Twelve different compounds and substances consumed or released during the production and use of the transports were considered. The impacts of these substances in six different impact categories were estimated using relevant characterization factor. The results are shown by some indices that assessed the ability of each vessel in damaging the environment. These indices are intended for rating vessels with respect to environmental friendliness. The results presented in the thesis show that the smallest conventional monohull vessel would be the best option as regards environmental consideration for the purpose of passenger transportation in the intended route.

This thesis also tries to identify the inherent problems of the circular waterways that are currently being used in a limited scale. On the basis of the study, some recommendations have been put forward so that policy makers can take appropriate action to utilize it properly. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS