Southern part being developed under a master plan: PM

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina today said her government is taking all projects under a master plan for development of the southern part of the country which was neglected for a long time after 1975.

The present government has a plan to generate 30,000 MW power in the southern part of the country, she said, adding another 1,320 MW power plant would be constructed by the same company-Northwest Power Generation Company- in the southern part.

The prime minister said this while addressing a gathering before inaugurating 21 projects including ‘Swapner Thikana’, a housing project for rehabilitation of the people who lost their land for constructing 1,320 MW thermal power plant in Payra.

Sheikh Hasina said the government is constructing a naval base and an air force base in the southern region side by side building a cantonment for Bangladesh Army. A shipbuilding and ship recycling industry is also being developed in the Taltali area of Patuakhali, she said.

The prime minister said a total of 130 families have found their homes in the Swapner Thikana project allowing them to live in a decent atmosphere. The 1320 MW thermal power plant, biggest coal based power plant in the country, would create job opportunities for them, she said.

The atomic energy commission is conducting a feasibility study to select a suitable place for construction of the country’s second nuclear power plant in the southern part, she said.

“We want to create job opportunities in this area for socioeconomic development of the people of this region who were neglected for a long time,” she added.

The prime minister said a cyclone center would be constructed in the power plant for shelter of the local people during any cyclonic natural disaster.

Local parliament member Md. Mahbubur Rahman also spoke on the occasion while Agriculture Minister Matiya Chowdhury, Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader, Shipping Minister Shajahan Khan, Chief Whip ASM Firoz, PM’s advisor Dr Towfiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury and State Minister for Power and Energy Nasrul Hamid were present.

Over the last ten years every region of the country has witnessed huge development, she said, adding her government has already taken plan to explore blue economy after acquiring huge sea area for economic development of the country.

Side by side, she said, all rivers in the region would be dredged to improve their navigability.

The prime minister urged the people to cast their vote for ‘boat’ to continue the development activities of the country saying Bangladesh would be a poverty free country by 2021 and a developed one by 2041.

The prime minister handed over the keys of the homes to the rehabilitated families and released fish fries in the pond of the housing area and planted sapling of a coconut tree on the premises of the housing.