The vessels -- MV Fairtech, MV Fazilat and MV Hang Gang-3 -- sank in a storm about two years ago, posing a threat to safe navigation to and from the port.

CPA Deputy Conservator Kamrul Hossain said, "We received complaints from ship operators and coast guards time and again about navigational problems due to the sunken ship wrecks. Both incoming and outgoing vessels touched those on many occasions but could avert accident."

An inter-ministerial meeting recently gave the go-ahead to the salvage operation. The CPA has engaged a private company through tender to carry out the Tk 8 crore operation to be funded by it, he said.

Sources mentioned that bureaucratic tangles at the higher level delayed the salvage operation for long.

Initially, the CPA had asked the owners of the vessels to salvage them but the latter did not respond considering the high cost involved.

A few months ago, the CPA removed four other ship wrecks from the port channel.

Some more still lie sunken but they are not threatening ship movement, sources said.