Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) is going to commission two new salvage vessels – Nirveek and Protyoy imported recently from South Korea – on May 28.
The high-capacity rescue vessels built by Daewoo International Corporation have been anchored at Narayanganj for commissioning since they arrived on March 31.
The BIWTA has finished preparations for the inaugural ceremony at Maowa point on the river Padma, said Deputy Secretary AKM Ariful Islam, who is also the public relations officer of the BIWTA.
The salvaging capacity of the two new vessels is four times that of the Hamza and Rustam, the two carrying out rescue operations now. The new rescue boats have a capacity of lifting 250 tonnes each. Hamza and Rustam have a capacity of lifting only 50 tonnes each.
AKM Arif said the authority brought the salvage vessels to enhance its vintage fleet at a cost of Tk3.57bn provided by South Korea as a soft loan. The government will have to pay an interest of only 0.5%.
The shipping ministry took the initiative to procure two modern rescue vessels in 2005 as the two existing ones became handicapped by their limited capacity.
Rescue vessel Hamza was imported in 1964 to salvage sunken big boats and single-engine ships. In 1984, the government procured Rustam. The total lifting capacity of Hamza and Rustam became insufficient for rescuing much heavier vessels now operating in the country's river routes.
