Chittagong to emerge as spectacular metropolis within five years

The port city of Chittagong will emerge as a spectacular metropolitan city within the next five years as various development projects have been undertaken by the government, Chittagong Development Authority (CDA) Chairman Abdus Salam said during a view-exchange meeting with journalists on Saturday. "The development march, which began in 2011 after Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's visit to Laldighi Maidan of the city, has not stopped yet. Chittagong will witness tremendous development work and will emerge as a spectacular metropolitan city within the next five years following the development," he said. He also said that the city will get rid of the waterlogging and traffic congestion issues within the next five years when the development projects have been implemented. The view-exchange meeting was organised to share different issues of the Tk5,616.50cr project that has been approved by the Executive Committee of National Economic Council (Ecnec) recently to avoid waterlogging and traffic congestion in the city. According to the CDA chairman, around 36 canals would be re-excavated, extended, renovated and developed under the project. "Around 48% of the bridges will be replaced. Sluice gates will be set up at 28 canals within three years," the CDA chairman said. "Although many small cities in the country have bypass roads, Chittagong is lacks one. CDA is going to construct a 120-ft wide bypass road from Fouzderhat to Bayezid Bostami to mitigate traffic congestion," he added.