The Challenge: New IWT Terminals in Bangladesh
Bangladesh has the world’s largest inland waterway transport system (IWT), transporting 157 million passengers annually along a navigable river length of 3,800 kilometers. Demand for ridership has been increasing at a rate that the current infrastructure cannot support.
To accommodate this growth, ease traffic congestion, and enhance the infrastructure to meet international standards, Voyants Solutions was hired to transform the world’s largest water transport network into the world’s best infrastructure, developing four major IWT terminals. The first and largest will be in Dhaka, the capital city and epicenter of Bangladesh. Delivering this modern, socially viable, and environmentally sustainable facility for safe and efficient passenger movement and vessel berthing required both land and marine works, which Voyants needed to integrate and coordinate on a 30-day design schedule.
Data, Technical Planning, and Design Integration
The scope of the project included traffic assessments over the next 20 years, feasibility studies, design, and construction management. With traffic volumes drastically varying – from 60,000 passengers on weekdays, to 100,000 on weekends, and up to 500,000 during festivals – Voyants sought to capture and forecast the most realistic traffic patterns.
They not only faced challenges finding scientific methods to accurately predict traffic demand, but also encountered site and technical challenges when executing and linking the land and marine works. The land side of the project presented a small footprint and geological difficulties while the project’s water side had varying levels within a narrow channel. To address these planning and technical difficulties, compounded by the structural and coordination challenges of integrating multiple data sources across four locations on a tight timeline, Voyants desired a collaborative, interoperable technology solution.
Image: Courtesy of Voyants Solutions Private Limited
Interoperability Drives Technology Success
Voyants decided to select ProjectWise to establish their connected data environment and common design platform, where they monitored and integrated traffic assessments, topographical surveys, and geotechnical analysis.
With OpenBuildings Designer and STAAD, they developed the architectural and structural design, creating accurate and cost-effective models and visualizations that helped all stakeholders understand the scope of the project. The interoperability of Bentley technology streamlined collaboration to easily share information and quickly determine design solutions. Working in an open digital platform, Voyants simultaneously performed survey, analysis, and architectural and structural modeling. They integrated client and stakeholder feedback that accelerated decision-making to finalize the design.
Digitalization Delivers Savings
Voyants completed conceptual design and received approval within approximately eight days, leaving only 21 days for detailed architectural, structural, and services design. Using Bentley’s integrated applications, they finished and submitted the final design in 18 days, three days ahead of schedule. Working simultaneously in an open digital environment improved productivity to deliver the work with just eight team members, compared to 15 using conventional methods. They saved 1,200 resource hours and helped increase ROI by 50%.
By replicating and reusing digital data and models from the largest IWT site, they significantly reduced the resource hours needed to design the terminals at the other three locations. Moving forward, the 3D BIM model will be converted into a 4D model for construction and project management, and later integrated with digital twin technology for building and asset lifecycle management.
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Facts
- Voyants Solutions was hired to transform the world’s largest water transport network into the world’s best infrastructure, developing four major IWT terminals in Bangladesh.
- With OpenBuildings Designer and STAAD, they developed the architectural and structural design, creating accurate and cost-effective models and visualizations that helped all stakeholders understand the scope of the project.
- Using Bentley’s integrated applications, they finished and submitted the final design in 18 days, three days ahead of schedule, saved 1,200 resource hours, and helped increase ROI by 50%.
“Bentley solutions expand the capabilities of designers and provide them [with] the tools to experiment and digitize their thoughts and visions to create physical structures, which will exist in the real world for a long time.”
Santosh Kumar
Project Manager
Voyants Solutions Private Limited