AL's Khaleque pledges to turn Khulna into a smart, green city

Outgoing mayor of the Khulna City Corporation (KCC) Talukder Abdul Khaleque, who is running for a consecutive second term in the upcoming city polls with ruling Awami League's ticket, said that it will be possible to turn Khulna into a smart, modern and green city.

He made the pledge on Wednesday while briefing media about the development of the city in his last tenure.

Regarding the development of waste management in the city, he said, "The KCC has undertaken some new activities to modernise waste management to turn waste into resources. Among them, under the City Region Development Project-II (CRDP-II), the work of composting manure, biogas to electricity and diesel generation projects at Shalua Landfill is underway".

The KCC is playing a leading role to expand education, especially female education, in the metropolitan areas, he added.

During the last tenure, so far 418 roads have been developed, 114 are in progress and 39 others are up for tender, said the mayor, adding that a total of 23 ponds in the city will be renovated.

In the last five years, 40,587 families have been trained in health and nutrition, and given assistance for small businesses. Besides, 1,300 roads with drains, 12 community latrines and 1,504 household latrines have been constructed in low-income settlements.

Currently, an app is being developed to facilitate all transactions for trade license and holding tax, from mobile phones.

However, as the KCC polls is scheduled for 12 June, the Election Commission on Wednesday sent letters to State Minister for Information and Communication Technology Zunaid Ahmed Palak and State Minister for Labour and Employment Begum Monnujan Sufian urging them to comply with the code of conduct for the upcoming KCC polls.

The letters have been issued as both Zunaid Ahmed Palak and Begum Monnujan Sufian are supposed to stay in Khulna from 12 May to 14 May.