People's Republic of Bangladesh Revival of Inland Water Transport : Options and Strategies
In Bangladesh, being a country with many rivers, Inland Water Transport (IWT), is a major mode for the transport o f goods and people. IWT is important for the poor as well as for the competitiveness and growth o f the economy as it is the cheapest mode of transport compared to road or rail. Until recently, however, the sector had received little attention from the Government of Bangladesh with only limited resources allocated to its development. The primary goals of this economic and sector work (ESW) study are to: (i) to provide an overview and assessment of IWT in Bangladesh, (ii) to identify and discuss the sector's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT analysis); (iii) to help the Government to define a strategy agreed with stakeholders to bolster the sector's contribution to shared growth and poverty reduction; and (iv) to identify priorities for a possible support from the Bank to the sector scheduled in FY09. The scope of the report will be limited to transport issues and will not propose a strategy for river management in relation to water management. However, the report will help to better integrate the IWT strategy and the water management strategy. The report is structured into a number of sections (3 to 14) which analyze the sector's situation and issues, followed by an analysis of the sector's SWOT (section 15). The report then concludes in section 16 with a summary of the main strategic recommendations that might constitute the foundations o f a new IWT strategy in Bangladesh. Section 17 provides orientations for future World Bank involvement in the sector.