Ctg entities pledge to help mayor out

CHITTAGONG, Aug 12: Government, semi-government and autonomous bodies have vowed to coordinate with the Chittagong City Corporation in all their development activities in the city from now on.
The decision was made in the first coordination meeting of the development and service providing agencies in the port and commercial city on Wednesday at the CCC conference hall with Chittagong city Mayor AJM Nasir Uddin in the chair.
The mayor in his opening address sad he had prioritised resolving the problems of the city on the short-term, mid-term and long-term basis. In solving those, he needed wholehearted support from other organisations and agencies working to provide services to the people.
Chittagong Divisional Commissioner Md Abdullah praised the mayor as a dynamic leader and said the mayor
 already identified the problems of the city. "I am confident the mayor would solve the problems of the city dwellers on a priority basis," he added.
He said that the administration was fully committed to extending its support to the mayor in settling the longstanding issues including the severe water-logging problem in the city.
Chairman of Chittagong City Corporation Rear Admiral Nizam Uddin Ahmed said Chittagong is the port city and commercial capital of the country. He said that the CPA had been regularly paying holding tax to the CCC apart from supporting other government agencies in the city.
"The development work would be easy to accomplish if they are implemented zone-wise," he said.
Chittagong Development Authority chairman Abdus Salam said development is an ongoing process. The CCC has made 20 proposals to the CDA and "expected our cooperation. From now on we will coordinate with each other in implementing the projects undertaken for welfare of the city." The CDA chairman said the CDA prepared a 20-year master plan in 1995 but it had not been implemented. The CDA was preparing another drainage master plan by 2016. The CDA would work in coordination with the CCC in implementing such projects.
Chittagong Chamber of Commerce and Industry president Mahbubul Alam praised the CCC mayor's vision to build Chittagong as a mega city and green city of the global standard.
He said that the city suffered heavy property losses during the recent cyclone Komen. He stressed the need for setting up a truck terminal and construction of an overpass on the Naval Base Issa Khan in the city.
The Chittagong city mayor has been insisting on the coordinated and concerted effort of all the service-oriented government and semi-government offices since his election to the mayoral office in June. Within weeks of his takeover on July 26 his first task was to meet heads of the other administrations in the city to provide better services to the city dwellers.
 "I have been trying to make the city corporation more service-oriented, besides building it as a clean, green and beautiful megacity. I want cooperation of all who have been kind to attend this august meeting," he said in the beginning of the meeting.   
 "I don't know whether I could run for the CCC mayor in the future. I don't know whether my party will nominate me for the post. I will ask all in my office to render their services with responsibility, honesty and accountability," he said.
Representatives of 28 government, semi-government and autonomous organisations were present in the meeting.
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