China keen on a smart city partnership instead of Ctg metro rail construction
The parliamentary standing committee on housing and public works recommended sending the proposal to the prime minister
China has proposed building a smart city in a China-Bangladesh partnership on a 60 square kilometer area on the Bay of Bengal coast instead of a Chinese-funded metro rail construction in Chattogram city.
The parliamentary standing committee on housing and public works, in its meeting chaired by its president, engineer Mosharraf Hossain on Tuesday, recommended that the proposal be sent to the prime minister, said a press release.
At the Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban meeting, committee members discussed the overall progress of ongoing projects of the Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha (Rajuk), Department of Public Works, National Housing Authority, the Development Authorities of Chattogram, projects in Cox's Bazar, Rajshahi and Khulna, the Urban Development Directorate, the Department of Architecture, the Housing and Building Research Institute, and other future plans.
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The meeting also recommended taking up projects for the construction of buildings with Bangladesh's own funds, making Development Project Proposals (DPP) rapidly after the recovery of commercial plots in the capital's Uttara, owned by Rajuk.
In the meeting, the committee recommended making Sewage Treatment Plants (STP) mandatory for the construction of hotels in Cox's Bazar.
It also requested the housing and public works ministry to send a letter to the finance ministry to cut STP taxes.
The committee also suggested taking necessary measures for the construction of 25-storied buildings at Ideal Zone and Al Helal Zone in Motijheel's Government Colony in the capital city.
Committee members — Housing and Public Works Ministry state minister Sharif Ahmed, Narayan Chandra Chand, Bazlul Haque Harun, Md Monowar Hossain Chowdhury, Anwarul Ashraf Khan and Farida Khanam; the secretary of the housing and public works ministry, chief engineer of the Department of Public Works, heads of various agencies under the ministry and other senior officials of the parliament secretariat, were also present at the meeting.
