A Stronger Safety Regime is Vital to Ensure Safer Passengers’ Movement at Inland Water Transportation Sector of Riverine Bangladesh

R Adm A S M Abdul Baten, (E), BSP, ndc, psc, PhD, BN (retd)

A Stronger Safety Regime is Vital to Ensure Safer Passengers’ Movement at Inland Water Transportation Sector of Riverine Bangladesh

R Adm A S M Abdul Baten, (E), BSP, ndc, psc, PhD, BN (retd)
Bangladesh Ocean going Ship Owners’ Association
asmabaten@gmail.com

Keywords: Safety, Passengers, Vessel, Legal, Framework, Design, and, Construction,

Abstract

Operators of passengers’ vessels in the Inland Water Transportation (IWT) sector of riverine Bangladesh are being regularly challenged which results accidents of different magnitude with loss of valuable lives and properties. There have been very limited research works on accident related issues in the IWT sector which reveal the root causes. As a result, there is very slow or no improvement on safety standard at this sector. This study includes an assessment of the existing legal framework along with different technical snags that contribute in prevailing unsafe conditions of the passengers’ vessels in the IWT sector. The research has been a mixed approach based on primary and secondary data. Apart from the study of available documents, qualitative and quantitate data have been collected from stakeholder groups in both the private and public sectors. At field levels key information have been gathered from accident prone areas in Bangladesh. By analysis of available information and data, this paper argues that the legal framework has limitation in certain major areas of governance along with technical matters which allow to build unsafe vessels in the IWT sector of Bangladesh.

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