Khulna: Khulna City Corporation (KCC) Administrator Nazrul Islam Manju today highlighted waterlogging as a significant issue in Khulna city, a problem shared by many major cities and municipalities nationwide. “Since assuming charge of Khulna City Corporation, I have visited different areas of the metropolis over the past two months and realized that waterlogging is one of the key problems of this city,” he stated.
According to Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha, Prime Minister Tarique Rahman has directed relevant authorities to develop green cities that are free from waste, mosquitoes, and dust. Manju pointed out various limitations in executing these directives, noting that rapid population growth is expanding district towns, upazila headquarters, and city corporation areas, while new towns, roads, and bridges are also being developed.
Manju emphasized the importance of implementing people-oriented projects on a priority basis and urged LGED engineers to contribute to building a “New Bangladesh” in alignment with the Prime Minister’s election manifesto. He made these remarks at the inaugural session of a workshop titled “Feedback Workshop on Local Preparedness Plan (LPP)” held at CSS Ava Centre in the city this morning, where he served as the chief guest.
The daylong workshop was organized under the “Local Government COVID-19 Response and Recovery (LGCRRP)” project of the Local Government Engineering Department. Representatives from KCC and 36 municipalities of Khulna division participated in the program.
Officials reported that a draft Local Preparedness Plan (LPP) has already been prepared, following the guidelines provided under the LGCRRP project. A five-member LPP preparation team and an eight-member review committee were established to prepare the plan. The LPP preparation activities formally began on April 27 through these committees. Engagement plans, emergency response plans, risk assessments, and investment identification were completed through meetings with stakeholders at the ward level, leading to the preparation of the draft LPP by the review committee.
The primary objective of the LPP is to establish guidelines to mitigate and address risks arising from climate change, natural disasters, human-induced hazards, and health-related threats. The workshop was chaired by LGCRRP Deputy Project Director Abu Yusuf Mohammad, with Additional Chief Engineer of LGED Khulna Delwar Hossain Majumder, KCC Chief Engineer Mashiuzzaman Khan, and consultant team leader Mozakka Zaher speaking on the occasion as special guests.