The ‘Sylhet Unnayan Kartripakkhya’ (Sylhet Development Authority) is going to be introduced for accelerating the development activities of Sylhet city.
The government had taken the initiative to form the Sylhet Unnayan Kartripakkhya in a bid to bring well-planned development in Sylhet with a view to establishing a modern and attractive tourist city in Sylhet city and the adjoining areas.
From this view of point, ‘The Sylhet Development Authority Bill, 2023’ was passed in the Parliament on Thursday (October 26, 2023), almost 23 years after the formation of Sylhet City Corporation (SCC).
Housing and Public Works Minister Engineer Mosharraf Hossain moved the Bill in the House and which was passed later.
The draft of the proposed ‘Sylhet Development Authority Act, 2023’ was prepared in 2020. Later, it was approved in the Cabinet. The formation of the proposed Sylhet Development Authority (SDA) has been delayed as the successive elected mayors and some others were allegedly not interested in such a move fearing loss of their absolute dominance over the activities of the city corporation.
It was known that the ‘Sylhet Development Authority Bill, 2023’ has been passed in the Parliament at the last moment following the efforts of Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen, who is the MP from Sylhet-1 constituency which covers the city area.
According to the proposed ‘Sylhet Development Authority Act’, the SDA will be formed with a 17-member body, including chairman.
Other members are-- three government nominated members, deputy commissioner (DC) of Sylhet, Police Super, SCC’s chief executive officer, deputy secretary-rank representatives from Ministries of Land Ministry Environment, Forest and Climate Change, representative from Ministry of Civil Aviation and Tourism, representative from urban planning department of Shahjalal University of Science and Technology (SUST), executive engineer of Sylhet Public Works Department, representative from Sylhet Architecture Department, and representative from Sylhet Chamber and Commerce. Three other government nominated members, including a woman, will also be included in the SDA. Three members will come from the SDA area.
Sylhet city is located on the bank of Surma River. In 1995, the government had declared Sylhet as the sixth divisional headquarters of the country.
The Sylhet Municipality was formed in 1867 and it was upgraded to city corporation on April 9 in 2001.
