Business leaders demand special budgetary allocation for Ctg city

Business leaders in Chittagong have urged the government to pay special attention to infrastructural development of the port city in the upcoming national budget for fiscal 2016-17.

Infrastructural development of Chittagong is a must for the sake of the country's overall development, as Chittagong is considered the commercial capital of Bangladesh, they said.

While talking to The Daily Star yesterday, they also urged the government to increase budgetary allocation in power and gas sectors to ensure uninterrupted power and gas supply to the industrial sector.

“We know that it's a national budget and there is no scope to consider it from regional perspective,” MA Salam, former first vice president of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), told The Daily Star.

“But we demand allocation for infrastructural development of Chittagong for the sake of the overall development of the country.”

The construction work of the four-lane Dhaka-Chittagong highway project has not been completed in nine years, which should be done immediately with special allocation, he said. The expansion of the cargo hub and runway of Shah Amanat International Airport in Chittagong is necessary to boost the economy, he said.

“We want allocation for a bridge over the Karnaphuli river in Kalurghat-Boalkhali area as the condition of the only railway bridge constructed in the British regime in the area is very poor now.”

The government plans to construct Dohazari-Cox's Bazar railway and the bridge is necessary for the railway connection from Cox's Bazar and southern part of Chittagong to the other parts of the country, he said.

AM Mahbub Chowdhury, senior vice president of Chittagong Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industry, demanded the government allocate at least Tk 5,000 crore in the budget for the infrastructural development of the city. The Chittagong port losses around 25 percent of its operation capacity due to traffic congestion in the area, he said.

The government should allocate more to build four lanes of the road that connects Bahaddarhat to Karnaphuli Shah Amanat bridge and to build power sub stations and new gas pipe lines from Bakhrabad to Chittagong, Chowdhury said.

He also stressed the need for allocation of funds in the budget to build an LNG station in Chittagong to meet the growing demand for gas.

Nasir Uddin Chowdhury, former first vice president of BGMEA, said the flow of investment to Chittagong is not well as there is no favourable atmosphere for investment.

“Allocation should be kept in the budget to build cluster of industrial villages comprising 30 to 50 industrial plots so that the entrepreneurs are encouraged to come up with new investments here.”

The roads of the city should be widened for extensive movement of heavy vehicles to and from industrial units, he said, adding that an expressway from Shah Amanat International Airport in Chittagong should also be constructed immediately.