Plan to set up integrated city at Fateyabad
Chittagong Development Authority (CDA) has planned to set up an integrated city titled 'Park Town' with provisions for industrial and residential areas on some 200 acres of land at Fateyabad to the north of Chittagong Cantonment. A garments village will be developed along the railway track in the Park Town with the theme of 'A Smart City' following the Malaysian concept of urbanisation, said sources at CDA. CDA is preparing a project proforma (PP) in this regard that will create scope for housing and employment of over 50,000 people. Implementation of the project with an estimated cost of Tk 300 crore is likely to start by January next, they said. According to sources, CDA will develop the integrated city following the guidelines of Chittagong Metropolitan Master Plan (CMMP 1995) to develop a huge township on the barren and agro land along Hathazari Road to expand the urban facilities in the northern fringe. Park Town will have an industrial block of 100 plots on 54.09 acres of land and a residential block of 209 plots on 24.98 acres. Mohammad Abu Issa Anshary, a town planner of the project, said they will develop a garments village at the industrial block with an Inland Container Depot (ICD) and a railway station to facilitate transportation of goods. The garments village will have a huge convention and display centre on 10 acres of land, a five-star hotel complex, separate office block, track yard and a solid waste recycling and liquid waste treatment plant. The residential block will have two separate dormitories for the male and female workers of different industrial units of the industrial block, he said. The garments village was earlier planned to set up in Hamzarbagh area of the port city that could have destroyed huge settlements and agro-land, Anshary said. Besides, it would raise the implementation cost of the project while could not provide a good road network either, he said, adding that the project would not be disturbed in the new site since the people living here would be rehabilitated in the Park Town. "Only environment-friendly industrial units will be allowed in the integrated city where the natural environment will remain almost unchanged with development of a huge lake and a park on 16.40 acres of land," said Sarwar Uddin Ahmad, another town planner of the project. The town will have a good road network with a 200-ft wide main road connecting BMA road in the south and Hathazari-University link road in the north. The main road including 20-ft wide green belt on each side will be developed on 17.68 acres of land, Sarwar said. There will be also a network of internal roads on 45.44 acres of land. Each of the internal roads will have a width of 60 feet in the residential block and 40 feet in the residential block, he said. The city will have shopping centre, Mosque and Eidgah, hospital and health village, school and playground to provide all sorts of facilities of modern life, he added. CDA Chief Engineer Shah Mohammad Akhter Uddin said some 2000 acres of land along Chittagong-Hathazari Road from Chowdhury Hut to Forestry Range Office area adjoining to Hathazari Bazar has been identified for expanding the project. Apart from the CMMP 1995, the regional plan of 1967 also suggested developing such townships on the other bank of the river Karnaphuli or in and around Chittagong University area, he said. But developing the townships could not be possible due to resource constraints though they are needed to help create scope for alternative land management and check illegally hill cutting as well, Akhter said. He said coordination between CDA and its development partners, including CCC, is a must for proper implementation of the CMMP plans.
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