Cumilla Division | The demand of Time

In the Nineteen Sixties, greater mass movement was formed for the implementation of the Cumilla division in the country. It is known that the provincial council was raised in the context of the rationality of the establishment of the division and mass movement in Comilla. In 1994, the leader of the opposition, the current Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said in a meeting on Comilla Railway Station, while going to Chittagong from Dhaka, The leader said that the Comilla will be a Division if Bangladesh Awami League came to power.

Based on the number of population and the number of MPs (Member of Parliament) and other criterias, it is fair to divide the region of Cumilla as a division.

• There are 16 MPs in Chittagong, 4 MPs in Cox's Bazar, 1 MP from Rangamati, 1 MP from Khagrachari and 1 MP from Bandarban district. Total number of MPs from 5 districts of Chittagong and Hill Tracts area is 23.

• From the greater Cumilla and Noakhali region there are 11 MPs from Cumilla district, 6 MPs from Noakhali district, 6 MPs from Brahmanbaria, 5 MPs from Chandpur, 4 MPs from Laxmipur and 3 MPs from Feni district. There are total 35 MPs from the Greater Comilla and Noakhali region.

• From these 35 numbers of MPs, Twenty Two are from three districts of greater Comilla area.

• According to the 2011 population census of Bangladesh Government, the total population of Chittagong and Chittagong Hill Tracts was 1 Crore 18 Lac and 41 thousand.

• Based on the same census in 2011, the total population of the Greater Comilla and Noakhali region was 1 Crore 76 Lac 38 Thousand and 963.

• The population of Greater Comilla region was 1 Crore 10 Lac 43 Thousand and 386.

• Greater Noakhali area population was 65 Lac 96 Thousand and 577.

• The total area of Chittagong division is 33,771 square kilometers.

• The Chattogram Division is a large one having 11 numbers of districts, 2 city corporations, 100 upazilas, 61 municipalities/pourasava, 120 police stations and 946 union parishads.

Many Divisions in Bangladesh have been formed with fewer population and fewer MPs. Though judging from the population and Members of Parliament, the claim for Comilla division is fair. It seems to be very difficult to control the whole area by one divisional Commissioner. The biggest thing is that it’s also hinders for the development of the region. At the same time, the government's financial expenditures also increasing due to various system losses. By dividing Comilla, the expenditure can be reduced.

At present, there are no more divisions in the country that has 11 numbers of districts except Chattogram Division. Large sections have been divided for administrative decentralization across the country. Now, Comilla should be divided for the time being. Otherwise, this region will be wrongly judged and the development oriented people will be affected by extreme discrimination.

Cumilla is required to establish as a division through the decentralization in order to reach the state's doorstep for the establishment of strong administrative structure, balanced development and for good governance. There are 50 government and non-government departments and organizations office in Comilla - Noakhali territories. Many of these departments will not have to be re-established if divide Comilla. These will be established as divisional offices.

Cumilla has a glorious position in numbers of the educational institutions, it is called educational hub. At present, there are five Medical Colleges (One public and four private), five Universities in Cumilla (One public and four private) located around the Cumilla city.

The roads and communication systems of the region was developed for a very long time. Inside this district, 112-kilometer portion of the Dhaka-Chittagong National highway, which is known as the country's economic gateway, has been dispersed. The Cumilla district is surrounded by five of the six districts of greater Comilla and Noakhali region. Only the Lakshmipur district is a little away, but the roads and communication system is well with Lakshmipur.

Brahmanbaria district situated on the north side of Comilla, Chandpur district on the south-west side, Noakhali and Lakshmipur district on the south side and Feni district is located on the south-east side.

For International Border with India, it is very easy to make inter-country communication via road, railway and waterway (via Gomti River) to boost trade and commerce of the country. Considering the communication system, the Comilla division has the right priority.

The implementation of the Comilla division has now become a mass demand for the time being. Comilla Gonodabi Parishad has been in the movement for three decades in the context of this claim. Comilla's long-standing demand came forward even after the recent Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina decided to break the Chittagong division into another division. As a result, people of the area believe that their long-standing demand will be in reality soon.

It was people's usual demand for establishing a new division comprising with these six districts. So, the demand for the life of the large population of the greater Cumilla area will come true soon. People of these areas now believe it.

The demand of the peoples: Cumilla Division!

Thanks,

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Dhaka - Cumilla - Chattogram Controlled Access Expressway

The government has taken a new project to build a six - lane expressway to improve road communication between the Port City Chittagong with Capital City Dhaka. The length of the Expressway will be around 218 kilometers which will be constructed next to the present Dhaka – Comilla - Chittagong national highway (N1). To construct this expressway, it will be necessary to shift various roads, institutions, offices and houses etc.

The Dhaka - Chittagong Six Lane Control Access Expressway project is going to implement soon. Prime Minister of the Peoples Republic of Bangladesh Sheikh Hasina's new government is giving priority to complete this mega project to speed up road communication with Chittagong.

The acquisition of land, utility re-settlement work proposal (DPP) will be approve soon. In July, the PPP authorities will call for the Request for Quotation (RFQ) to pick an investor. Existing four lane highway has been developed to improve connectivity to the port city Chittagong with capital Dhaka. But due to the faulty design, two-lane bridges and heavy traffic pressure, peoples are not getting relief from gridlocks, even transporting goods. At present due to up gradation of three bridges on this highway, gridlock getting intolerable. Vehicle pressure is increasing every day.

The up gradation of Dhaka - Chittagong four-lane highway was done by thinking the reality of running 17,000 vehicles per day. According to the survey of the Roads and Highways Department, the current rate of carriage growth in this route is 8 to 10 percent. As such, more than 17,000 numbers of vehicles will drive within two or three years on this highway.

According to a study by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), vehicle pressure on this road by 2020 to 2030 will increase to 66,000 daily. Then there will be deadlock everyday in the existing four lanes road. That’s why the government is giving priority to build a controlled access expressway in this route. Some mega projects, port facilities, economic zones are going to establish soon in Chittagong. So this type of expressway must be implemented.

If the expressway is constructed, the commercial communication with Chittagong to other cities of the country will be much easier and faster. It will only take two to three hours to go from Dhaka to Chittagong.

The construction work of the project was supposed to be started during the previous government period. But due to the acquisition of land with administrative approval and project implementation authority it was not possible to start. Last year the project was sent to the Ministry of Planning for approval of its DPP after taking a land acquisition project along with moving various utility services, electricity, telephone lines and houses. After completion, this will be the South Asia's largest expressway.

Before the project is approved, the district administration, forest department and environmental clearance are need. This project will be implemented through five districts and already NOC from four districts has been given except Chittagong. Apart from this, obtaining forest and environmental NOC is also under process. Soon these clearances will be sent with DPP to the Planning Ministry for land acquisition and utility re-settlement.

As well as beside approval of the land acquisition, the process of finding an investor for the main work of expressway is in progress. Earlier Asian Development Bank was interested in funding the project. But ADB has withdrawn from the loan process last year.

Later Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina took the responsibility of implementing the project. The support to Dhaka-Chittagong Expressway project was sent to the PPP to carry out various tasks including the appointment of independent engineers for the assistance and supervision of the investors etc. And the PPP will call the RFQ to find interested investors for this mega project. A shortlist will be made after the verification of the offer of interested investors. From there, the final investor will be selected.

The feasibility study of the project was done once in 2004. But now the implementation of the project is not possible to complete based on that old feasibility study. For this reason, RFQ will be called after updating feasibility verification. This will be happen possible by July this year.

The length of the Control Access Expressway will be 217 kilometers and from this, 19 kilometer will be fully elevated. There will be a service road, seven interchanges, three service stations, 64 overpasses, 44 vehicle underpasses, four medium size bridges and 28 small bridges under the project. Earlier, the potential cost of the proposed project was estimated to 28,000 crore BD Taka. Of this, only the expenditure on land acquisition was estimated to be BD Taka 10,588 crores.

The project's duration was fixed from January 2018 to December 2022. Feasibility study will be revised and project construction cost will also be revised. The potential cost of the proposed expressway may be estimated to BD Taka 37,000 Crore. The cost of utility re-settlement with land acquisition may be BDT 17,000 Crore. The project-related people said that the cost of land acquisition will be more than previous. As a result, the DPP is finalizing based on the cost of land acquisition which may be around BD Taka 17,000 crore.

The project will be implemented in three packages. The first package will be from Kanchpur to Cumilla, 2nd package from Cumilla to Feni and the third package will be from Feni to Chattogram. This will be a fully control access expressway. The main road will be of four lanes, the remaining two sides will be use as service road, total six lanes. The local slow-speed vehicles and three wheelers will be able to use the service road. And with the control access roads of four lanes vehicles will be able to move at a minimum 100 kilometers speed per hour.

Vehicles will need to pay toll for using this expressway. On this route, vehicles will be able to go up and down in seven places. These places are: Madanpur of Narayanganj, Daudkandi of Cumilla, Mainamati and Paduar Bazar of Cumilla, Feni, Baroirhat and Salimpur of Chittagong. A control access expressway means that slow vehicles can’t enter. If the expressway is implemented in order to facilitate traffic movement without any traffic jam, then the dreams of Dhaka and Chittagong can be realized in two to two and a half hours.

Thanks.

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