The Fisheries and Livestock Ministry is set to procure a survey ship from Malaysia although the designs and standards of the vessel has been deemed as faulty for use in Bangladesh.
According to a monitoring team of the ministry, the survey ship would be able to work only four months during the winter season as it has only one engine. In the present context, such vessels need to have at least two engines for reserve.
However, such specifications were ignored when the ministry placed an order to the Malaysian ship building authority to build the ship.
Admitting the faults of the survey vessel, Fisheries and Livestock Minister Sayedul Haque told the Dhaka Tribune: “We have found the mistake at a time when the ship building was at its final stage. We have discussed the issue with the officials and experts concerned with the survey ship to overcome the problem.
“The previous authority of the ministry had placed the work order to the Malaysian ship building authority. They gave the order considering our existing survey ship, which contain a single engine. They did not consider the present context of the country and additional maritime boundaries.”
He said Bangladesh will get the new survey ship in March 2015. The ministry will take further steps to solve the problems after it is delivered.
According to the ministry officials, the Malaysian authority was given order to build the survey ship for Bangladesh in 2012. The ADB is bearing all the cost of Tk65 crore for the ministry under a soft loan term.
The ship was expected to be delivered to Bangladesh by December 2014, however, the schedule was shifted to March 2015 as per a request of the ship builder. According to an official at the minister’s office, the vigilance team, led by Marine Fisheries Academy Principal Captain Masud Khan, submitted a report to the ministry terming the design of the ship defective.
The report also recommended the authority to solve the issues before receiving the ship from the Malaysian builder.
“The vigilance team visited the ship building activities in Malaysia recently. They informed the ship building authority that the ship was being built with a single engine and will only be capable of traveling into deep sea during the winter season,” the official told the Dhaka Tribune, seeking anonymity.
According to the report, there was an opportunity to build a high standard survey ship with four engines as most improvised survey ships at present have have four engines. But, the previous authority ordered them to build a single engine ship which was not logical at all. It should be at least a ship with two engines. The official said the ship was built with an aim to travel into the deep sea round the year to survey marine resources.
With the present design, the ship will be able to travel only in between November to February and spend the rest of the year idle.
As a result, the government will not be able to allow fishermen to fish at deep sea at the perfect time and season.