Narayanganj dockyard undertakes Tk100cr scheme to build ship

The Dockyard and Engineering Works Ltd (DEW) run by Bangladesh Navy at Sonakanda in Narayanganj has undertaken a comprehensive plan for modernising the dockyard.
Official sources said under the Tk 100 crore scheme the DEW will build ocean-going vessels of international standards and overhaul old, obsolete and dilapidated machinery.
The naval engineers and technicians by this time under took a work plan to repair machinery and equipment worth of about Tk 25 crore. Nearly 80 percent work on the plan has already been completed.
The repaired machinery included one jetty crane, one floating crane, one mobile crane, two overhead cranes of the workshop, six lathe machines, including one multipurpose universal machine, three shaper machines, one bending machine, two boilers, one saw mill and slippers plat and rail carriages along with hard standing floor, one blacksmith shop, one foundry, one Russian store and 11 workshops.
Established in 1926 on a 22-acre plot on the eastern bank of the river Shitalakkha, the ocean-going ship building dockyard went into production in 1950.
Many foreign firms used to have their ocean-going tugs built at the dockyard through international tender during the pre-liberation period.
After independence of the country in 1971, it was placed under the supervision of Bangladesh Steel and Engineering Corporation (BSEC) of the Ministry of Industries. The dockyard was laid off on December 21, 2002.
Subsequently, it was handed over to Bangladesh Privatisation Board as a sick industrial unit in 2004.
The Ministry of Industries through the Defence Ministry handed over the management of the dockyard to Bangladesh Navy on December 7, 2006.
When contacted, Managing Director (MD) of the dockyard Captain Mahmud Ali said Bangladesh Navy took over the management of the establishment with a working capital of Tk 7.19 crore.
He said three ships and one GRP boat were repaired in the dockyard during the last one year with 11 naval officers and 95 permanent staff.
The dockyard needs at least six hundred people for its smooth functioning.
He said one tank carrying landing craft and a high-speed boat of Bangladesh Navy are undergoing overhauling at the moment.