City Government Needed to Make Chattogram Liveable: Sahadat

Chattogram City Corporation (CCC) Administrator Dr Sahadat Hossain has stressed the need to establish a city government to develop Chattogram into a planned, clean, green and liveable city.

He made the remarks at a seminar titled “Chattogram: Economic Gateway & Lifeline of Bangladesh”, organised by the Commonwealth Journalists Association-Bangladesh Chapter (CJA-B) at the World Trade Centre auditorium in Agrabad on Friday.

Sahadat said coordinating development activities and public services had become difficult for the city corporation because different agencies were responsible for various aspects of urban management.

“Establishing a city government will help bring development planning and service delivery under a coordinated framework,” he said.

Describing greater Chattogram as one of Bangladesh's main arteries, he warned that weak connectivity and poor coordination of infrastructure development could hamper the city's progress, just as blocked arteries affect the heart.

“Before implementing a project, we must plan how to make it feasible and sustainable,” he said.

Sharing his experience in office, the CCC administrator said he had been advocating the establishment of a city government since taking office, as he realised that building a planned city would be difficult without such a system.

Although the mayor is often regarded as the city's guardian, he said, many important areas remained outside the city corporation's direct control.

Sahadat said some aspects of waste management fell under the district administration, while certain playgrounds were also beyond the city corporation's jurisdiction. He added that various development projects in the Agrabad area were being implemented by the Chattogram Development Authority (CDA).

He said coordination among different agencies was essential to address waterlogging, keep the city clean, expand green spaces and ensure a healthy urban environment.

The CCC administrator stressed that such coordination should be institutionalised at the state level rather than remaining limited to meetings among different agencies.

Referring to solar power allocations for 13 city corporations, he said Dhaka South and Dhaka North had each received Tk 10 crore, while Chattogram had received Tk 5 crore.

Sahadat also referred to recen