DHAKA: Many residents of Dhaka have never heard about the city’s boat hotels, but for traders and visitors to the Bangladeshi capital from other districts the floating lodgings have for decades provided a cheap accommodation option.

The boat hotels on the banks of the Buriganga River started to emerge in the first half of the 20th century, under British colonial rule, providing accommodation to poor traders from deprived rural areas arriving in Dhaka in search of work.