CHITTAGONG, January 28: Chittagong City Corporation (CCC) and Chittagong Development Authority (CDA) are at loggerheads over the proposed revision of the port city development plan.
The feud between these two organisations again surfaced Monday. CCC councillors from its general meeting decided not to attend a view exchange meeting on January 27, as CDA did not consult with the CCC mayor regarding revision of the master plan.
Following the decision CDA has stopped work of CCC Lake City housing project at Khulsi. CDA alleged that CCC violated its conditions of approval by cutting hills, prohibited as per CDA rules.
Earlier, CDA called a meeting with all CCC councillors for exchanging opinions on revision of the master plan to develop regional connectivity through Chittagong.
The CCC officials said CDA should have talked with the city mayor, as CCC is the prime stakeholder of the plan.
Since the mayor was not contacted about holding the meeting, the CCC councillors said they cannot participate in it. They even threatened to prepare a separate master plan for the port city in consultation with Minister for Housing and Public Works Mosharraf Hossain. Both CDA and CCC are service-oriented organisations of the government under the Ministry of Housing and Public Works and the Ministry of LGRD respectively.
But they have now engaged in a row for developing separate master plans. Neither of the two agencies has so far implemented a single project, proposed in the existing master plan of 1995, said town planners concerned.
They said CDA and CCC are not following directives of the plan. Rather they are more willing to go for ad-hoc development planning and implementation, causing overlapping of projects and wastage of money, bringing little benefit for the port city.
M Ali Ashraf, professor of Southern University Bangladesh, said in the existing master plan a phasing plan was also given to complete all the works in different phases within the 20-year plan period.
On the basis of the phasing plan development agencies concerned should have prepared DPP (detailed project proposal) for different projects and submitted to the government with request for funding.
"Unfortunately no organisation seriously tried to get fund from the government through submission, processing and persuasion of DPP."
Since the master plan is vetted by the government by publishing a gazette notification, it is mandatory for all development agencies to abide by its provisions.
But unfortunately the development agencies in Chittagong have a tendency to bypass the provisions. Priorities determined in the plan are also overlooked in implementation of projects, he also said.
"Now we hear that CDA is planning to revise the present master plan, whose timeframe ends in 2015. Any revision of the plan should be undertaken by taking CCC in confidence."
Cooperation of the development agencies is a pre-requisite for revision of the master plan. Project proposals and possible cost should to be discussed with funding agencies, including the government and donors, to ensure availability of fund within the master plan timeframe.
"Otherwise, the revised master plan will also face the same fate of the previous plan. We do not expect something like this to happen," he concluded.
