Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCI) President Taskeen Ahmed on Wednesday called for a long-term, performance-based public-private partnership (PPP) framework to reverse decades of decline in Bangladesh's rivers and canals, warning that continued neglect is costing the economy billions of dollars annually in lost efficiency and congestion.
Taskeen made the call while presenting a paper titled ‘Revitalising Circular Waterways and Inland Trade’ at a seminar held at the DCCI Auditorium in Motijheel.
He said Bangladesh's more than 1,415 rivers and a historical canal network of roughly 24,000 kilometres form the backbone of the country's economy, but over 55% of canals are now silted or encroached.
Dry-season navigability has shrunk to 3,865 kilometres, down from 6,000 kilometres during the monsoon, while 77 percent of freight remains road-dependent despite waterways offering a cheaper and cleaner alternative, he noted.
Citing government data, Taskeen said the Ministry of Water Resources has been allocated Tk 10,533 crore, with FY26 canal excavation and irrigation targets so far achieved at 42.77 percent.
“A 180-day national programme targeting 1,204 kilometres of excavation is expected to be completed by June, alongside an additional 1,500 kilometres under relief-based re-excavation schemes,” he added.
The DCCI chief referred to a broader five-year plan, part of BNP's election manifesto for the 13th national parliamentary election, envisaging restoration of 20,000 kilometres of rivers and canals and revival of 520 disappeared rivers, with an initial rollout already covering 54 districts.
Highlighting the Sahapara pilot project as a model, Taskeen said the initiative has irrigated 1,200 hectares, lifted crop yields by 60,000 tonnes and benefited around 350,000 people by storing monsoon rainwater for dry-season irrigation, reducing farmers' reliance on costly deep-tube well electricity.
He said inland waterways cost 55-60 percent less than road transport for cargo movement between Dhaka and Chittagong and are four to eight times more energy-efficient per ton-kilometre, yet carry only about 7 percent of national freight by weight-distance.
Taskeen described the 112-kilometre Dhaka Circular Waterway as a stalled opportunity, citing encroachment of the Tongi Canal, failed feeder services for earlier waterbus routes, and funding priorities skewed toward mega-projects.
He said shifting just 20 percent of truck freight to the corridor could ease Dhaka's estimated $3-7 billion in annual congestion losses, pointing to the Hatirjheel water taxi service, launched in 2016, as proof of concept for urban waterway revival.
The DCCI president identified rapid re-siltation, land encroachment, inadequate long-term financing, fragmented governance among agencies such as BWDB, LGED and BIWTA, environmental safeguards, and climate variability as the key challenges to sustainable waterway restoration.
He put forward a nine-point roadmap, including shifting from short-term dredging contracts to five-to-ten-year performance-based PPP agreements, a unified water-trade legislation aligned with the National Logistics Policy 2025, GIS-based digital monitoring to prevent encroachment, agro-logistics hubs at canal junctions, and formal recognition of trade bodies as co-governance partners in waterway policymaking.