Govt to build exclusive zones for hotels, motels in C'Bazar
Monday, 17 May 2010
Fazlur Rahman
The government has planned to build four exclusive tourist zones in Cox's Bazar to woo investment worth billions of dollars in the highly untapped service industry.
The Land Ministry rolled out the plan Sunday that sets out development of 165 plots for hotels and motels on 1,237 acres of land along the 120-kilometre sea-front Cox's Bazar-Teknaf strip.
Officials say the zones are the first serious attempt by the government since independence to tap into Cox's Bazar's potentials, transforming the once-sleepy beach town into a major international tourism hub.
Under the plan, three zones would be developed for building hotels and motels that can house tens of thousands of tourists while an exclusive tourism city would be built in an island close to the coast.
Land Minister Md. Rezaul Karim Hira said the new zones would attract billions of dollars in investment from home and abroad.
"It will make Cox's Bazar a tourism paradise," Hira said, adding construction of new hotels has become essential to solve acute crisis of accommodation during the busy winter season and helped grow the town in a "planned way".
There are now 230 hotels and motels in the Cox's Bazar Town, home to the world's largest unbroken sea-beach, which can accommodate around 75,000 tourists a day.
Years of double-digit growth in inbound tourism saw a record 150,000 tourists flocking the beach town daily during the peak season last year - a number that has caught the authorities and the service industry by surprise.
Bangladesh Parjatan Corporation - the government tourism agency - says the new zones are part of a master plan to tap into the Cox's Bazar's immense tourism potentials.
"Our target is to turn the 120-km narrow Cox's Bazar-Teknaf strip into an exclusive tourist zone," BPC chairman Hemayet Uddin Talukder told the FE, adding a high-profile committee would help prepare the master plan.
According to a ministerial meeting decision on the plan, three hotel-motel zones will be built at Bodo Dail and Shilkhali while Sabrang Island situated along the coast will also be made an exclusive tourism zone.
Ten plots will be built at Bodo Dail, 25 at Shilkhali-1, 30 at Shilkhali-2 and 100 at Sabrang Island.
Land will also be earmarked for service centres, health services, shopping malls, amusement parks and car parks.
The land minister presided over the inter-ministerial meeting on Sunday. State Minister for Land Advocate Mostafizur Rahman, Parliamentary Standing Committee on the Ministry of Land Chairman AKM Mozammel Haque and Land and Environment and Forestry secretaries were present.
The land minister said hotels and motels will be built in a planned way in the zones, creating tens of thousands of high-paid jobs and earning revenues for the government.
Mostafizur Rahman said the public works department acquired 177 acres of land in 1957 to build hotels in the area, but land was later leased out.
"The lessees who got the plots in the name of associations and clubs have not developed the area as a tourist zone," he said.
Officials said the government would cancel the lease deals and lease them out again among the local and foreign investors.
The proposed hotels and motels will be set up on 1237.36 acres of land adjacent to beaches, of which 857.25 acres are government-owned and the rest will be acquired from private owners.
The government has planned to build four exclusive tourist zones in Cox's Bazar to woo investment worth billions of dollars in the highly untapped service industry.
The Land Ministry rolled out the plan Sunday that sets out development of 165 plots for hotels and motels on 1,237 acres of land along the 120-kilometre sea-front Cox's Bazar-Teknaf strip.
Officials say the zones are the first serious attempt by the government since independence to tap into Cox's Bazar's potentials, transforming the once-sleepy beach town into a major international tourism hub.
Under the plan, three zones would be developed for building hotels and motels that can house tens of thousands of tourists while an exclusive tourism city would be built in an island close to the coast.
Land Minister Md. Rezaul Karim Hira said the new zones would attract billions of dollars in investment from home and abroad.
"It will make Cox's Bazar a tourism paradise," Hira said, adding construction of new hotels has become essential to solve acute crisis of accommodation during the busy winter season and helped grow the town in a "planned way".
There are now 230 hotels and motels in the Cox's Bazar Town, home to the world's largest unbroken sea-beach, which can accommodate around 75,000 tourists a day.
Years of double-digit growth in inbound tourism saw a record 150,000 tourists flocking the beach town daily during the peak season last year - a number that has caught the authorities and the service industry by surprise.
Bangladesh Parjatan Corporation - the government tourism agency - says the new zones are part of a master plan to tap into the Cox's Bazar's immense tourism potentials.
"Our target is to turn the 120-km narrow Cox's Bazar-Teknaf strip into an exclusive tourist zone," BPC chairman Hemayet Uddin Talukder told the FE, adding a high-profile committee would help prepare the master plan.
According to a ministerial meeting decision on the plan, three hotel-motel zones will be built at Bodo Dail and Shilkhali while Sabrang Island situated along the coast will also be made an exclusive tourism zone.
Ten plots will be built at Bodo Dail, 25 at Shilkhali-1, 30 at Shilkhali-2 and 100 at Sabrang Island.
Land will also be earmarked for service centres, health services, shopping malls, amusement parks and car parks.
The land minister presided over the inter-ministerial meeting on Sunday. State Minister for Land Advocate Mostafizur Rahman, Parliamentary Standing Committee on the Ministry of Land Chairman AKM Mozammel Haque and Land and Environment and Forestry secretaries were present.
The land minister said hotels and motels will be built in a planned way in the zones, creating tens of thousands of high-paid jobs and earning revenues for the government.
Mostafizur Rahman said the public works department acquired 177 acres of land in 1957 to build hotels in the area, but land was later leased out.
"The lessees who got the plots in the name of associations and clubs have not developed the area as a tourist zone," he said.
Officials said the government would cancel the lease deals and lease them out again among the local and foreign investors.
The proposed hotels and motels will be set up on 1237.36 acres of land adjacent to beaches, of which 857.25 acres are government-owned and the rest will be acquired from private owners.