Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday inaugurated the country’s first World Trade Centre (WTC) in Agrabad Commercial area of Chittagong.
The 21-storey World Trade Centre has been constructed by the Chittagong Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI).
According to the CCCI sources, the WTC will have bank branches, exhibition halls, shopping mall, food court, conference rooms, health clubs, banquet halls, billiard rooms, snooker rooms, tennis courts and swimming pools in the building.
The World Trade Center built in Chittagong is a member of World Trade Centers Association in New York.
Thousands of people from all strata, particularly leaders and workers of the ruling Awami League and its associate bodies greeted the PM.
Waving national and party flags and carrying banners and portrait of Sheikh Hasina, they stood on both sides of the roads and chanted slogans.
Devdas Bhattacharya, CMP Additional Commissioner (Crime and Operation) said around 2000 policemen were deployed for the security.
“It was the electoral pledge of Sheikh Hasina to develop the commercial capital. I think the Prime Minister kept her promise,” said Engineer Delwar Majumder, president of Sachetan Nagorik Committee.
Mahbubul Alam, president of the CCCI said,:“The first-ever WTC of the country will surely help emerge Chittagong as the commercial capital in a true sense.”
Besides, Sheikh Hasina also inaugurated the country’s tallest ‘mural of Bangabandhu’ installed in Quaish area of Chittagong city on the day. The height of the triangular mural is about 42 feet while the other one, installed at Oxygen point is about 26 feet.
The projects that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina inaugurated and laid the foundation stone were Kadamtoli Flyover, constructed at a cost of around Tk 58 crore, 5.5-km-long Bangabandhu Avenue, expanded and developed with a budget of around Tk 45 crore, construction of Link Road from Dhaka Trunk Road to Bayezid Bostami road including Loop Road at the outer periphery of Asian University for Women, with a budget of about Tk 172 crore, construction of Chittagong City Outer Ring road costing about Tk 1,700 crore and construction of the Elevated Expressway from city’s Lalkhan Bazar to Shah Amana International Airport with an estimated budget of Tk 3,000 crore.
Apart from that, the PM inaugurated the World Trade Centre (WTC). The inaugural ceremony of the WTC coincided with the five-day long centenary programmes of Chittagong Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI) which began from January 28.
The business leaders in the premier port city expressed their optimism that the WTC would boost up trade and commerce, enhance tourism and attract a large number of investors.
“The WTC is not merely a building or an organisation. The centre will bring together business and government agencies involved in international trade,” said Alam, vice-president of the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI).
It may be mentioned that the CCCI constructed the WTC at a cost of Tk200 crore. The construction work of the project began in May 2006.
The Prime Minister told the function that Awami League believes in development.
“We want more development of the port city of Chittagong, and we’ll do whatever needed,” PM said.
