Chairman of Bangladesh Inland Transport Authority ( BIWTA) Commodore Arif Ahmed Mustafa said the activities of BIWTA should be upgraded to cater to the new realities of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

He said this in a workshop titled 'Workshop on the Fourth Industrial Revolution Strategy for Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority' held on Monday.

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Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority in collaboration with the Institute of Water Modelling (IWM) organised the workshop at the Muktijoddha Smriti Milonayoton at BIWTA Bhaban in the city.

BIWTA is responsible for maintenance of river routes, dissemination of navigational and meteorological information, conducting hydrographic survey, carry out dredging activity to maintain river routes, operate inland river ports, conduct traffic surveys to establish passenger and cargo requirements.

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Given the lack of budgetary resources allocated to the sector, and complex work-nature of BIWTA, innovative approaches are required within the organization to deliver services efficiently to its service recipient and stakeholder, he said.

BIWTA chairman said BIWTA has already pioneered some digital intervention in-line with the government's Digital Bangladesh vision. Automated river gauge, vessel traffic management, automated dredging mechanism, e-Traffic Management and digital dissemination of hydrography data has already been adopted by BIWTA.

He said the Bangladesh government has already unveiled the Smart Bangladesh masterplan. Based on this vision, 'Smart Bangladesh' will be a high- income, poverty-free, developed nation, grounded in innovation, powered by technology that we are only beginning to understand such as Al and loT, and that will have a per capita GDP of $12500.

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"In order to realize the Smart Bangladesh Vision 2041 and align with the demands of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR), BIWTA must come up with its own vision and strategy for the 4IR,' he also said.

Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority has contracted the Institute of Water Modelling (IWM) to leverage state-of-the-art Digitization approach and globally recognized e-Governance framework for providing BIWTA with an actionable Digitization roadmap for catering to the need of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR).

The workshop discussed the impact of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) on the inland water transport sector in Bangladesh.

The workshop also explored how BIWTA can adopt 4IR technologies to improve its operations and services which will be of interest to all stakeholders in the inland water transport sector, including government officials, private sector representatives, and academics.

Team leader of the Government Employee Management System of the Ministry of Public Administration Dr. Md. Abdul Mannan presented his speech on the widespread use of artificial intelligence.

Joint Secretary and Member (Planning & Operation), BIWTA presided over the programme.