The government has undertaken a mega project involving Tk 1,541.29 crore to ensure residential facilities and improve the socio-economic condition of the Cumilla city.
The main objectives of the project are to curtail time and cost of traffic through road development and reduce traffic snarl, eliminate water-logging and improve the environment through construction of drains, and provide civic services to the city- dwellers through construction of urban buildings.
Besides, beautification of the city will be ensured by maintaining the environmental health through waste management, ensuring residential facilities for cleaners of the city.
These issues have been highlighted in the meeting of the Project Evaluation Committee (PEC) of the project titled “Development of Integrated Infrastructure of Cumilla City Corporation.”
It was chaired by Mamun-al-Rashid, a member of the commission's physical infrastructure department.
A planning official said the total expenditure for the project has been estimated at Tk 1,541.29 crore.
Of this, the government has set a target of spending Tk 1,387.16 crore from its own funds and Tk 154.12 crore from Cumilla City Corporation funds, he said.
If it gets the nod of the Exetive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) after processing, the project will be implemented by June 2024, he said.
According to sources, the current area of Cumilla City Corporation is 53.4 square kilometers and the population is more than one million.
There are 268 km of paved roads, 154 km of unpaved roads, 95.50 km of paved drains, 75.46 km of unpaved drains and 24.40 km of scenic footpaths.
Cumilla City Corporation was formed on 10 July 2011 with Cumilla Municipality and Cumilla Sadar South Municipality.
Most of the city roads are unpaved and underdeveloped. As a new city corporation it has not yet been possible to ensure many of the civic amenities of the citizens in the city. Therefore, the project has been proposed for the socio-economic development of the people in the city corporation areas to provide adequate civic amenities.
It includes 316.82 km of roads, 202.78 km of sewers and 13.81 km of footpaths, beautification and development work in three areas, development of 146 cemeteries and crematoriums, development of 10,348 sq m cleaners' residential system, 17,800 square meters.
It has been proposed to construct Nagar Bhaban, set up Mostafapur Truck Terminal with 40,473.97 square meters and develop Chawkbazar Bus Terminal with 8,198.98 square meters.
A total of Tk 402.75 crore has been proposed for construction of nine-storey modern city building with two basements with 15-storey foundation, construction of Sebak Colony, expansion of regional office, beautification and development work in three areas.
Building construction and beautification activities may be excluded from this project. These activities can be implemented with separate projects if required.
A consultant has been proposed to implement the activities of the proposed project and the cost of consultancy has been estimated at Tk 5 crore.
These costs can be reduced. The proposed project proposes reconstruction and development of 316.82 km of roads, construction and development of 203.9 km of RCC drains and construction and development of 13.83 km of footpaths and the total cost is estimated at Tk 896.05 crore.
Roads, sidewalks and drains have been constructed and renovated under two ongoing projects. So, constructed roads, drains and sidewalks can be excluded from the proposed project.
In this project 8 public toilets and 142 cemeteries and 4 crematoriums have been proposed to be developed and the cost has been estimated at Tk. 57.85 crore. The proposed project has a provision of Tk 10 lakh for publicity and advertisement, Tk 12 lakh for honorarium, Tk 15 lakh for irregular labor wages, Tk 2 lakh for stationery, seals and stamps.