Shipping Minister Shajahan Khan has said the present government has taken initiatives for digging 118 navigation routes to ease national and international trade.

The minister made the disclosure while addressing as chief guest the keel-laying ceremony of two pilot boats and two heavy-duty speedboats for Payra Seaport at Khulna Shipyard (KSY) in Khulna yesterday.

Shajahan said the KSY was a losing concern during the BNP-Jamaat alliance regime and it became a profitable organisation after Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina handed it over to Bangladesh Navy in 1999.

He said the KSY has already built 736 new ships, including warships.

The minister said the present government is working relentlessly to construct new seaports considering the importance of the shipping sector as 90 percent of the global trades conducted by seaports and navigation routes.

Talukder Abdul Khaleque, MP, and chairman of Payra Seaport Authority Commodore M Zahangir Alam addressed the ceremony as special guests while managing director of KSY Commodore Anisur Rahman Molla delivered the welcome speech.

Assistant Chief of Naval Staff Rear Admiral M Shafiul Azam, among others, was present.