Failure to choose right people for planning hinders sustainable development
They addressed a workshop on “Citizen’s Expectation, Chattogram” held in the port city.
Speakers at a workshop said that poor and faulty planning has been obstructing sustainable development in Bangladesh.
"As we fail to choose the right people to do the planning we are not getting the expected results of the development projects undertaken by the government", the speakers said at a workshop titled "Citizen's Expectation, Chattogram" held at a local restaurant in the port city on Wednesday morning.
The USA based organisation Democracy International (DI) organised the workshop where representatives from different professions and political parties discussed five topics and found out a number of problems along with their probable solutions.
Speakers in the workshop said that the citizens of Chattogram want a livable city. "For that we need proper planning to ensure sustainable development. Unfortunately citizens have not been able to elect the right visionary leader who can lead the planning and coordinate the development activities", they added.
The speakers recommended implementation of "City Governance" to ensure coordination among the government organisations liable for executing development projects.
They also recommended social awareness programmes to stop dumping solid waste into drains, arranging playgrounds for children and adolescents, ensuring safety and security of women in the public transport, providing easily accessible public services, checking corruption in implementing development projects, arranging technical education for the youth and creating job opportunities for the youths.
Moderated by Obaidur Rahman, regional coordinator of DI, the workshop was addressed by veteran woman leader Jesmin Sultana Paru, Advocate Mahfuzul Hoque Bhuiyan, member city unit of BNP; Afser Uddin Rony, organising secretary of city unit of Jatiya Party; Sanatan Chakrabarty Bijoy, president of Multi Party Advocacy Forum (MPAF); Jashim Uddin Chowdhury, general secretary of MPAF; Kashem Shah, former treasurer of Chattogram Union of Journalists, and Sadrul Amin, regional manager of DI, among others.