Luxury malls, laboratory, dust-cleaning vehicles among Tk 1.42b projects lying unused

A bridge was built over the Rajakhali canal in Chattogram city at a cost of Tk 85 million to ensure smooth and easy movement of vehicles. The 70-metre-long bridge has no connecting roads on either side. As a result, it has remained unused for four years. Now, connecting roads have to be built.

Customers come to New Market in Chattogram for shopping. A multilevel car parking facility was built in 2017 for them to park their vehicles. Although the seven-storey structure was built at a cost of Tk 40 million, it is practically unused. There are more such structures in the city that are not being used.

These include a food testing laboratory, two shopping malls, an ICU ambulance, a food-testing vehicle, six dust-cleaning vehicles and a vehicle for removing waste from water bodies. These remain almost non-functional.

At least 11 such projects built by Chattogram City Corporation and the Chattogram Development Authority (CDA) have cost around Tk 1.42 billion. Three of the projects belong to the CDA and the rest to the city corporation. While the CDA spent its own funds to implement its projects, the city corporation's projects were implemented with funding and donations from the Ministry of Local Government.

There is an air-conditioned six-storey shopping mall. It has regular lifts, escalators and an attractive capsule lift. There is also adequate parking and security through CCTV cameras. CDA's Saltgola Shopping Complex has almost all modern facilities. Although construction was completed in 2022 at a cost of around Tk 500 million, it has yet to open. Of its 186 shops, 82 have been sold.

Businesspeople allege that former CDA officials were reluctant and indifferent about opening the shopping complex. They did not cooperate with the businesspeople.

The same is the case with the CDA's shopping mall 'B' Block in the New Market area, known as New Market B-Block. Construction was completed in 2015. The 10-storey shopping mall cost Tk 450 million to build. It has around 450 shops. Although some shops on the first and second floors are open, most of the shops on the upper floors remain closed.

Khurshid Alam Chowdhury, president of the Shopping Mall's Merchant Welfare Committee, told Prothom Alo that although the building was constructed next to a hill, no retaining wall was built beside it. Water entered the building and damaged the escalator. The lift also remains out of order most of the time. There is no business-friendly environment here. As a result, many people have returned the shops they purchased.

CDA Chairman Belayet Hossain told Prothom Alo that New Market B-Block lacks the pleasant and business-friendly environment required for a shopping mall. A wall will have to be built to prevent water from the hill from entering. There are plans to retain shops up to the fifth floor and rent out the upper floors commercially. The Saltgola Shopping Complex will be opened in October-November. And there was no need to build a multilevel car parking facility.

Although a modern food testing laboratory was built in Bibirhat in the city at a cost of Tk 200 million, it has not opened even after 10 years. The laboratory was constructed as part of a project of the Ministry of Local Government funded by the Asian Development Bank (ADB). The three-storey building has 82 modern testing equipment.

Chattogram City Corporation Chief Health Officer Mohammad Imam Hossain told Prothom Alo that the laboratory could not be opened because there was no approval to recruit staff. The recruitment process is now awaiting approval from the Ministry of Finance.

A German agency provided a vehicle for food testing at the laboratory. The vehicle, estimated to be worth around Tk 20 million, has not been used.

On 2 January 2022, the Indian government donated an ICU ambulance to Chattogram City Corporation during the ousted Awami League government. However, it has not been used much to transport patients.

The city corporation bought one vehicle for dust cleaning with its own funds. It received five more vehicles from the Ministry of Local Government. These vehicles cost around Tk 67 million. The dust-cleaning vehicles have effectively not been used for any city-cleaning work.

In 2022, the Ministry of Local Government purchased eight weed harvesters at a cost of Tk 5 billion to remove water hyacinth and floating waste. In March 2025, one of them was given to Chattogram City Corporation. Officials concerned said these machines were not needed. They are not suitable for use here. They are now lying idle.

Akter Mahmud, former president of the Bangladesh Institute of Planners (BIP) and professor of the Department of Urban and Regional Planning at Jahangirnagar University, told Prothom Alo that the necessity of such projects should be assessed before implementation. In particular, before purchasing laboratories, equipment and vehicles, it was necessary to ensure that skilled manpower and funds were available to operate them. That would have prevented the wastage of public money.