CHATTOGRAM, Apr 06: The government has taken a fresh step to make Chattogram a commercial capital of Bangladesh, says Chief Coordinator of the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) Md Abul Kalam Azad.
A committee has already been formed to submit a final report in this regard, said Azad, who held a meeting to review the progress of the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Industrial Zone at Mirerswari in the afternoon.
During the meeting he disclosed that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is taking fresh step to make the port city commercial capital of the country.
He said the divisional commissioner of Chattogram has been made chairman of the committee and the deputy commissioner (DC) its member secretary.
The representatives from Chattogram Port Authority (CPA), Chattogram City Corporation (CCC), Chattogram Development Authority (CDA), Chattogram Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI), Chattogram Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CMCCI) and other concerned authorities will be the members of the committee, he told the meeting.
"If the chairman needs to co-opt more members, he can add new members," he said.
"The committee will find out the development work which was completed earlier for making Chattogram commercial capital. They also find out work freshly needed to be done in this regard in future," said Azad.
"The committee will also arrange daylong meetings with the concerned authorities to make the report. The meeting will consist of four sessions - on communication, banking sector and economical organisations, government and private investment, and tunnel and ring roads," he stated.
The committee will arrange the meeting within the next one month or two, he said.
The ministers and secretaries of the concerned ministry and other high officials will take part in the meetings and sessions, he informed.
He said, after holding the meetings, the committee will submit a work plan in this regard.
"(Then) the committee will submit a report and after getting the report, the government will take necessary step to make Chattogram commercial capital of the country," he added.
Sources said, Chattogram city-dwellers have been demanding for a long time that the concerned authorities take concrete steps to make the port city a commercial capital.
Earlier, pledges had been made during the tenure of different other governments that the port city would be turned into a commercial capital, however, the assurances was not implemented.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who has taken the move to fulfil the demands of the city-dwellers, declared that she would make Chattogram commercial capital in her speech at a public meeting at Laldighi Maidan before the national elections in 2008.
The government has taken other big projects, including Karnaphuli Tunnel, Bay Terminal of CPA, Marine Drive Road, LNG Terminal, Deep Seaport, Coal-fired Power Plants and Bangabandhu Economic Zone at Mirsarai to turn Chattogram a commercial capital, officials said.
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