The government has planned to develop a total of 188 non-municipal upazilas for ensuring balanced development across the country, officials said.
The authorities concerned are devising a master-plan to this effect for implementation.
The plan will focus on infrastructure development, zoning of agriculture and wetlands as well as designated places for educational institutes, forests, religious places, etc.
"We have taken a master-plan for development of the non-municipal upazilas," deputy director of the LGRD & Cooperatives Division A K M Mizanur Rahman told the FE on Sunday.
He said the ministry officials will sit today (Monday) for finalising the plan, which is going to be implemented under a project titled "Non-municipal upazila headquarters master-plan development project".
The initiative has been taken following the directives of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina last year for taking a project for development of all the non-municipal upazilas with modern facilities, he added.
There are a total of 492 upazilas in the country. Of them, 188 upazilas do not have the municipality status.
A high official of the Ministry of LGRD and Cooperatives said the ministry prepared the draft master-plan.
It will recommend development of the entire area of each non-municipal upazila. As per the existing system, only 10 kilometre radius of a non-municipal upazila is entitled for development.
Asked how many non-municipal upazilas will come under the project, he said, "Initially, around 20 non-municipal upazilas will be selected for the project".
"We will gradually implement the master-plan in rest of the non-municipal upazilas."
The official also said a consulting firm in cooperation with the Local Government Engineering Department (LGED) will implement the project.
"Some Tk 80 million to Tk 100 million for each upazila, depending on its size and nature of areas (like plain or hilly areas), will be spent for implementing the master-plan," he added.
© 2024 - All Rights with The Financial Express
