Strict rules to check hill cutting soon
Firoze Shah Hill in Pahartali area, top, Cantonment Hill in Bayezid Bostami area, bottom left, and Batali Hill, bottom right.Photo: Zobaer Hossain Sikder
Inter-Ministerial Steering Committee (IMSC) at a meeting decided to formulate strict rules for preservation and management of hills as well as for proper development of drainage and traffic systems in the port city. The meeting was held at the Ministry of Housing and Public Works on November 28. The rules will allow construction of structures on 30 per cent of the damaged hills, leaving the rest 70 percent for afforestation, said the meeting sources. Construction of buildings up to three storeys will be allowed on such hills to discourage evil practices of developing residential plots levelling hills, they said. With construction of structure particularly on the hilltops, use of 10 per cent of such hills will be allowed, said the sources. No structure would be allowed on the northern hills standing in between Foy's Lake and Hathazari in the northern periphery and those surviving illegal cutting in the city centres, they said. The meeting decided to formulate the rules as per the recommendations of the draft final report prepared under the project Preparation of Detailed Area Plan (DAP) for Chittagong Metropolitan Master Plan (CMMP). The DAP provides guidelines for proper management of hills dividing them into three categories, namely H-1, H-2 & H-3, sources said. The hills under H-1 category will remain untouched and intact with greeneries, partially damaged hills under H-2 categories to be protected with tree plantation and silt-traps at the foothills while the non-retrievable hills under H-3 category to be managed under special control for developing housing and space, they said. Housing and Public Works Secretary ASM Rashidul Hye, also the president of Inter Ministerial Steering Committee (IMSC), presided over the meeting. Nazrul Islam, deputy chief of the ministry, at the meeting narrated the background and introduction CMMP and different stages of preparation of DAP. The meeting decided to allow construction of primary roads with a minimum width of 120-ft inside the built-up areas of the city and 160-ft wide roads in the growing areas outside the city. It keeps provisions for preserving land along the roads for developing drainage system and leaving at least 20-ft wide land along the drains for utility services like water, gas and power supply. The meeting called for maintaining coordination among Chittagong Development Authority, Chittagong City Corporation, Chittagong Wasa, Power Development Board, Bakharabad Gas System Limited and other organisations concerned for planned growth of the city and implementation of the DAP. Secretaries and representatives from ministries of communication, shipping, Local Government and Rural Development (LGRD), civil aviation and tourism, environment and forest, Planning Commission, and high officials from Chittagong Development Authority (CDA), Chittagong Port Authority, Wasa and IMED were present at the meeting among others. The team leaders and experts of Development Design Consultants Limited (DDCL) and Adhibas, consultancy firms engaged in preparing the DAP, put up proposals and explained the recommendations made in the DAP for discussion at the meeting. CDA Chairman Shah Mohammad Akhter Uddin said the preparation of the DAP draft final report by the two consultancy firms comprising local planners and engineers is 'a breakthrough in the planning arena in the country'. He, however, emphasised the cooperation of all the authorities concerned and organisations as well as strengthening CDA with a full-fledged planning wing as per the proposed organogram for proper implementation of DAP to ensure planned growth of the port city. A proposal for providing CDA with a new organisational structure (organogram) with 52 new posts and 53 old posts dissolved is now in the final stage. The proposal to make CDA a planning authority has already been approved by the Ministry of Housing and Public Works and the Ministry of Establishment. Besides, it is now under the process of finalisation at the ministry of finance, sources at CDA said.
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