The government is to form Cox’s Bazar Development Authority, a body which will administer the transformation of the beach town into a city with modern amenities as part of development projects.
The draft of Cox’s Bazar Development Authority Act 2015 is likely to get its final approval at today’s cabinet meeting, said Housing and Public Works Minister Engineer Mosharraf Hossain.
The cabinet approved the draft of Cox’s Bazar Development Authority Act last year.
The housing and public works minister yesterday told the Dhaka tribune the development authority would carry out carefully planned development projects in Cox’s Bazar.
“At present, Cox’s Bazar is seeing development tasks being carried out without any plan. The town is gradually losing its beauty. The level of pollution is rising.
“Considering all these, the government has decided that Cox’s Bazar will be turned into a modern city where there will be facilities that are of international standards in order to attract get tourists,” he said.
The minister said Cox’s Bazar’s development is currently monitored by a municipality which is not powerful enough to deal with unplanned development tasks. “The development authority that will be formed will resemble Rajuk.”
Two years ago, the government estimated that it would cost Tk50 crore to develop Cox’s Bazar into a mega city, and the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs approved the estimate.
The planned project includes construction of structures like a five-star hotel on 160 acres of land, a three-star hotel, setting up tourism villages and a 14-hole golf course.
However, under the 10-year master plan, the project will be implemented by Bangladesh Parjatan Corporation through a public-private partnership venture, and will be monitored by Cox’s Bazar Development Authority. According to the master plan, development tasks will be chiefly implemented in Ramu, Ukhia, Teknaf, Saint Martin’s Island and Shah Pori Island.
Earlier, the Middle East, Thailand and Singapore have shown interest in implementing the project.
Mosharraf Hossain said his ministry had also planned to establish new infrastructures in the beach town without affecting its natural beauty and resources.