Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Project: River-Taxi Project_Part 5_ Problems Regarding River Taxi

Batang Lupar is famous for its tidal bore phenomena that attract a lot of tourist from all over the world. However, in developing river taxi design for this region, the tidal bore itself would be a major problem. The tidal bore can cause problem towards the conventional private boat or express boat if the skipper is not well versed on Batang Lupar. In addition to that, there are not many-experienced skipper around.

The velocity of the river flow that is not uniform means it is hard to determine the suitable engine’s horsepower. Additionally there are debris scattered along the river, especially upstream. Due to this, boat users have to navigate slowly to avoid hitting debris that could cause danger to the boat users.

The formation of sandbanks at several areas especially near to Pulau Seduku limits the boat traffic beyond the area. Boats can only pass through the area during high tide and high-tide only last for 2 hours. After that, the level will be too low and considered unsafe for boaters to pass through.

Other problem associated with the river taxi development is the scattered settlement of the Sri Aman residents. It is important for us to measure the distance required for the river in order to determine the size of fuel tank and the size of the boat itself.

Finally, the cost of building the new river taxi must be considered. From economic point of view it is important to communicate with the client at the early stages so that changes could be made earlier to avoid extra cost and increase the saving towards the cost. Since there are a lot of problems to be tackled by the new design, the cost to solve them will be quite significant. Additionally, the number of demand of the customer is important in order to estimate the utilization of the new river taxi.

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