Chattogram Bureau :
The Chattogram City Corporation in early 2019 took up a pilot project for establishing an 11-storey kitchen market in the Halishahar area of the city in a bid to bring all the nearby scattered makeshift essential commodities shops under one roof and ensure a better environment -both for traders and customers. The Tk21 crore project, funded by the World Bank, earned plenty of praise.
The construction of the market on about 2 acres of land at Failyatoli is near completion, the authorities are expected to open it soon.
Inspired by the utility of such high-rise markets, the city corporation has now initiated two more projects to build three new kitchen markets.
“The projects worth Tk98.83 crore already got the local government ministry’s nod in November last year after scrutiny. Now, we are waiting for the final approval from the planning ministry,” Chief Engineer at the city corporation Rafiqul Islam told The Business Standard.
He expressed hope that the construction of the markets could start soon after getting approval. “We have a plan of launching the kitchen markets cum commercial buildings by the end of next year.”
The city corporation would be able to earn around Tk10 crore annually in revenue from the markets, added Rafiqul.
As per the project documents, the three new multi-storey buildings will be established on the corporation’s land in the areas of Firingi Bazar, Boxirhat, and Bibirhat, while the government will fund 90% of the total budget. The corporation on its own will invest the remaining amount.
Currently, the second-largest city has only 18 approved kitchen markets against some 70 lakh population. To meet the demand of the growing number of people, the number of temporary kitchen and essential commodities markets has been on the rise in unplanned ways.
Currently, there are more than 50 makeshift markets on roads and footpaths. The road occupation causes traffic congestion in the nearby areas, bringing suffering for commuters.
The city corporation believes all of the 4 multi-storey markets would be able to serve at least 10 lakh people residing in the port city. They also would reduce gridlocks.
“Currently, traders are doing their businesses in a very damp and unhealthy environment. Besides, they occupy roads and footpaths, which is an encumbrance for all. The new multi-storey markets would have no such issues,” says Md Yusuf, vice-president of the Failytoli Traders Association.
Besides, businesspeople would get relief from the existing extortion in the floating markets, he added.
In the Bibirhat project, two separate 10-storey-foundation buildings – one for kitchen and another for commercial – would be constructed on 1.83 acres of land at Tk49.53 crore. However, the kitchen market would be made four-storey initially, by the next year.
