CHITTAGONG, Jan 30: Chittagong garment factories are likely to be relocated to Kalurghat heavy industrial area in the city as BGMEA Chittagong unit and Chittagong City Corporation have agreed on the construction of a garment village on an area of 11 acres of land owned by the CCC.
A meeting of the CCC Mayor and senior officials and garment manufacturers and exporters of the BGMEA discussed in details construction of the garment village in the Mayor's office with City Mayor M Manjur Alam in the chair.
Both the parties decided that the BGMEA will prepare a draft proposal for the garment village where 24 buildings of six-floor each and dormitories for the female garment workers will be built within 2015. The BGMEA will prepare a draft proposal very shortly on the basis of which another meeting will decide the funding and other relevant issues.
"We are not going to implement the project merely from any commercial outlook but considering that the garment manufacturers and exporters have been playing a vital role in the national economy which must be strengthened by the CCC through extending cooperation to the giant project," said City Mayor M Manjur Alam.
He stated that the city corporation will be proud to be a part of the garment village which will augment foreign exchange earning for the country.
The leaders of BGMEA (Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association) said they would sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the CCC once the area, height, design, fare per square foot and relevant issues of the bilateral agreement are finalised.
Both sides attached highest priority to the infrastructure facilities, long lasting construction plan and design, fire safety, security of the garment workers, spacious roads and lanes, drinking water and gas connection in the garment village.
CCC engineers said that previously they had a plan to build a satellite town or the city slaughtering centre on the CCC's own land measuring 11 acres. But the decision to raise a garment village was finalised after receiving a proposal from the leaders of the BGMEA, Chittagong unit, for the garment village.
BGMEA first vice president Nasir Uddin Ahmed Chowdhury, director Syed Nazrul Islam, MA Wahab, Sabbir Mostafa, Anjan Shekhor Das, MDM Mohiuddin Chowdhury, Sheikh Saadi, chief executive of the CCC Ali Ahmed, secretary of the CCC Rashid Ahmed and engineers of the CCC discussed the matter.
