International Business Forum of Bangladesh (IBFB) Chittagong Chapter and Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) Chittagong Region jointly arranged a seminar and roundtable discussion on “Traffic Congestion and its Solution by River Transportation” in the port city on 21st Oct 2012.
Mr. Jon Danilowicz the Charge-de-Affairs of US Embassy in Bangladesh was the Chief Guest in the seminar and the event was moderated by the Chairperson of IBFB Chittagong Chapter, Mr. Sakhawat Hossain. Mr. A K M Masud Karim, the Managing Director of German classification society “Germanischer Lloyd Bangladesh”, presented a brief keynote paper on the subject. Amongst others, business personnel, industrialists and investors from various sectors were present at the event.
The key note speaker highlighted about the growing traffic density in our highways and major cities. He presented statistics in the event showing Chittagong port had received approximately 15 lakh TEUs of containers last year, which is growing at a rate of 20% per annum. All these containers are being shifted to various destinations in the country by road which is the major cause for bad traffic in our highways.
He said the situation could only be overcome if the containers were transferred through container ships using the river channels than by container trucks on the highways. The Government of Bangladesh has already taken initiatives to improvise this major issue by developing Pangaon Inland Container Terminal and by issuing 32 container ship licenses. But this capacity has to be enhanced as more ships will be required for the increased trades in the coming years.
The IBFB Chittagong Chapter Chairperson Mr. Hossain emphasized that, people of this country lose 25% of their working life in traffic gridlock. If this problem is resolved people could be more efficient and add more value to the country.
The Chief Guest Mr. Danilowicz said that Bangladesh is full of potential but, definitely there are challenges. He highly admired IBFB and BGMEA for organizing such a seminar, as challenges could be met, upon discussion.
The Founder President of IBFB and former Mayor of Chittagong, Mr. Mahmudul Islam Chowdhury mentioned IBFB as a body, which has fought against corruption in various sectors. It has highly contributed in the economy and he is hopeful that IBFB will be able to draw a conclusion to this issue as well. The first Vice President of BGMEA, Mr. Nasir Uddin concluded the seminar by thanking all for participating in the seminar.
