CCC debt down from Tk 596 crore to Tk 325 crore in two years, Shahadat says at anniversary programme
Chattogram City Corporation (CCC) administrator and former mayor Dr Shahadat Hossain has tried his utmost for the development of Chattogram's people and to ensure civic services, State Minister for Land and Chittagong Hill Tracts Affairs Barrister Mir Mohammad Helal Uddin has said.
He made the remarks on Saturday afternoon as chief guest at a programme celebrating two years of the CCC's journey under Dr Shahadat Hossain's leadership, at the International Convention Centre at Kazir Dewri in Chattogram city. Dr Shahadat has given priority to serving people in his political, social and professional life, the state minister said, and that priority is reflected in his various initiatives since taking charge of the CCC.
Mir Helal said the goal of building Chattogram as a clean, green, healthy, safe and smart city could also include building a humane Chattogram. People from different areas of Chattogram, as well as city residents, come to Dr Shahadat Hossain with their problems; he listens to them and helps as far as he can.
The state minister saw a similarity between this mindset of standing beside people and Prime Minister Tarique Rahman's people-welfare-oriented thinking. Dr Shahadat has held that thinking since his time working at the Ziaur Rahman Foundation, he noted.
On the CCC's digital civic services, the state minister said he himself has registered on the Amader Chattogram app. He urged city residents to register on the app, use its services and spread word of its benefits to people they know. It is also important to let people know how to obtain the services that government institutions launch for citizens, he said.
Mir Helal mentioned a recent meeting with the CCC administrator about development work in CCC wards 1 (South Pahartali) and 2 (Jalalabad), which fall within his parliamentary area. The Chattogram City Corporation has carried out about Tk 100 crore of development work in those two wards, he said. Road construction and maintenance are a regular responsibility of the city corporation; this work too can be done with planning and creativity, he said.
He urged that information on what work has been done in which area, and how people are benefiting, be presented through social media and other channels. He also called on the relevant agencies to decide together on solutions to footpath occupation, traffic congestion and the parking crisis.
Giving the parking crisis as an example, he said fines are being imposed for parking in unauthorised places. But in areas where there is no designated place to park, arrangements must also be made for where drivers will park. On the ongoing work to resolve waterlogging, he said one city problem can fall within the jurisdiction of several agencies; in that case the CCC, the Chattogram Development Authority, the police administration and the relevant institutions must sit together and decide the solution.
The state minister also mentioned discussions with the CCC administrator on the possibility of renewable energy, bird sanctuaries and entertainment parks. He said he would discuss the CCC's proposal in detail with the prime minister. Several large public-welfare projects for Chattogram have also been discussed with the prime minister together with the finance and planning minister, he said; he hoped that if implemented, people in Chattogram's 16 parliamentary seats, as well as the city, would benefit.
In his chair's speech, CCC administrator Dr Shahadat Hossain said Chattogram's development must be taken as everyone's common goal. He said he has worked from the start of his tenure towards building a clean, green, healthy, safe and smart city, and that coordination among the city's service institutions and the cooperation of city residents are needed to achieve it.
Presenting the past two years' activities, the administrator said Chattogram ranked first among the country's city corporations in the Local Government Division's city governance evaluation. He mentioned a separate cycle track on Airport Road, inaugurated by Finance and Planning Minister Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury.
On the use of the Amader Chattogram app, Dr Shahadat Hossain said 20,287 citizens have registered on it. Citizens can submit applications or complaints through the app on 10 subjects: roads, mosquitoes, waste, street lights, drains and sewers, public toilets, illegal structures, waterlogging, education and health. Of 7,120 applications submitted, 4,222 have been resolved; work is under way to settle the rest.
On the CCC's financial position, the administrator said the corporation's debt was about Tk 596 crore when he took charge; in two years it has fallen to about Tk 325 crore. The CCC now has about Tk 200 crore deposited in the bank, he said. If the expected dues are collected from the Chattogram Port Authority, the CCC will still have money in the bank after paying the remaining debt, he hoped. The CCC has also surpassed its previous record in holding tax collection, the administrator noted.
CCC acting chief executive officer Mohammad Ashraful Amin gave the welcome speech at the programme. A documentary on the CCC's two years of activities was screened, and the guests unveiled the book Unnayaner Agrajatray Chattogram.
Guests at the programme included Chattogram-9 MP Mohammad Abu Sufian, former Chattogram city BNP general secretaries Ekramul Karim and Abul Hashem Bakkar, city BNP member secretary Nazimur Rahman, Bangladesh Cricket Board director Israfil Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury, Chattogram Metropolitan Police Commissioner Hasan Md Shawkat Ali, Chattogram Development Authority chairman Engineer Belayet Hossain, Director (Local Government) Monoara Begum, Additional Deputy Commissioner Md Kamruzzaman, Divisional Director (Health) Dr Sekh Fazle Rabbi, Civil Surgeon Dr Mohammad Sajedur Rahman and Premier University Vice-Chancellor Professor S. M. Nasrul Kadir.
