C T Online Desk: The Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Corporation (BIWTC) is going to launch three cruise vessels for the first time in the country that would operate trips in the coastal belts inof the country and on the Chottogaram-Kolkata route.
“Initially we have given work order to Karnaphuli Ship Builders Limited to make three cruise vessels each with the capacity to carry 160 passengers and 74 crew members. Apart from night stay, the vessels will be able to carry more passengers for daylong tours,” Khondaker Mahmudur Rahman Iman, chief planning manager, BIWTC, told the media persons. . .
Once the ships are launched, they hope that the other international cruise ship operators may show interest to come to Bangladesh which will increase the flow of foreign tourists in the country.Tour operators said that the initiative would be a milestone for the country as still there is no cross-border cruise ship in Bangladesh and the country is not included in the international cruise line due to bureaucratic barriers. These ships will be available for operations in2014, a reliable sources said.
Md Ziaul Islam, chief marine construction (ac) and project director, BIWTC told that , “All vessels will be of the same design and the same capacity. We will get these in the last quarter of 2023 according to the contract. Each vessel will cost Tk77 crore, he added.
About the cost of travelling on these vessels he said, “The fare has not been fixed yet but the service will be like that of 5-star hotels. There will be three crew members for each passenger, so the expense will also be high.”
He also said, along with sailing on the rivers these luxurious vessels can also travel inside 20 nautical miles of the sea but it cannot be sailed in deep sea.
These vessel will travel from Dhaka to Chattogram, Khulna and Kolkata on river and sea routes, he added.
