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The Mongla Port channel dredging project would be completed by June next, facilitating ships with 10-metre draft to anchor at the seaport, officials said.
The Mongla Port Authority (MPA) has engaged three dredgers for improving the navigability of the river channel.
Until Sunday, the officials said, about 2.5 million cubic metres of soil has been extracted from the river channel since starting of the project involving a cost of over Tk 7.12 billion.
Hong Kong River Engineering Company Ltd and China Civil Engineering Construction Company are jointly dredging the river.
Earlier, the government approved four projects of the MPA, including the river dredging project, involving a total cost of over Tk 8.22 billion for overall development of the port.
The other projects are: Vessel Traffic Management and Information System, Surface Water Treatment Plant and dredging at the site of food silos of the port area.
Shipping secretary Md Abdus Samad told the FE on Sunday that this is the first dredging of outer bar of the Pashur river channel.
He said that the Ministry of Shipping (MoS) has taken another project for dredging of about 10,000 kilometres of river routes across the country and their preservation.
It would ensure adequate navigability of the river routes and smooth transportation of water vessels, and facilitate anchoring the ships at the ports, he said.
Mr Samad said that the state minister for shipping Khalid Mahmud Chowdhury visited the Mongla Port on Sunday to see the development works and expressed the hope that more ships could be anchored at the port after completion of the projects.