Mongla port getting 4,000-tonne water treatment plant
A surface water treatment plant, costing Tk 25 crore, is being constructed near Mongla port to supply freshwater to port users as well as the crew members and passengers of ships sailing in and out of the port.
People living or working in areas adjacent to the port will also be benefitted from the plant, said officials of the construction project.
According to data provided by Mongla port authorities, the modern water treatment plant is being built on 33 decimals of land at Digraj intersection on Khulna-Mongla highway, five kilometres away from the port building.
With the tentative completion of the work set by the end of 2021 or the beginning of 2022, boundary walls of the plant premises are already near completion.
Availability of freshwater has been scarce at the port since its inception in 1947. The supply of freshwater is also scarce for residents of Mongla municipality due to high level of salinity in local rivers and natural water bodies that are connected to the Bay of Bengal.
Due to the scarcity, most employees of the port and other offices in Mongla had been commuting from Khulna city or Bagerhat town.
While speaking with this correspondent, a number of the employees who commute regularly, said they were relieved after hearing the news of the water treatment facility as it will ease their sufferings immensely.
Mongla port employee Abul Hossain hoped that supply of freshwater from the water treatment plant will improve lifestyle of everyone in and around the port.
Jahirul Haq, chief planning officer of Mongla port, said out of the water to be supplied from the water treatment plant, 50 percent would be consumed by port users and its employees, 10 percent would be sold to subscribers around the port and the remainder would be supplied to ships using the port and factories near the port.
The people who had been commuting from Khulna will eventually start moving in Mongla once the supply of freshwater is available there, he also hoped.
Anupam Gain, director of the water treatment plant construction project, said they so far completed 40 percent of the work.
He also said that as opposed to a demand of 3,000 tonnes of freshwater at the port and the ships, the facility will deliver 4,000 tonnes of treated freshwater per day and it might bring in 10 dollars per tonne from sales to the ships.
Rear Admiral M Shahjahan, chairman of Mongla Port Authority, said as a means to facilitate rising number of ships using the port, they have been undertaking various development projects for the port.
As part of the development and to solve the longstanding scarcity of freshwater, they are building the surface water treatment plant, he added.
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