Ctg port advisory committee meeting after 20 months 

The meeting of Chattogram Port Authority’s (CPA) newly formed advisory committee will be held tomorrow.

State Minister for Shipping Khalid Mahmud Chowdhury, the chairman of the committee, will preside over the meeting at the conference room of the CPA’s Training Institute at 10:00am.

This is the first meeting of the new committee formed on July 10.

The CPA Chairman Rear Admiral Zulfiqur Aziz is the member-secretary of the committee, comprised of 60 members. 

Of them, 18 are local lawmakers elected from different constituencies of Chattogram, including reserved seats.

The other members include the city mayor, government officials and representatives from among port users.

The advisory committee coordinates between port users and the government offices concerned.

It formulates recommendations for the management and development of the port. 

The meeting is a platform for port users to highlight their problems before all the government offices.

The committee was first formed in 2010 and the first meeting was held in October of that year.  

The last meeting was held on December 10, 2017.

Though the meeting is scheduled to be held every three months, this is the first meeting in 20 months.

There was no continuity in holding the meetings, said Mahbubul Alam, president of Chattogram Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI).

“Many decisions taken in the meetings remain only on paper as there is no follow-up,” he added.

We want the committee to be more effective, said Alam.

The CPA Secretary Omar Faruk told The Business Standard that the meeting was delayed as the committee had to be restructured to include local lawmakers who were elected in December 2018.

A draft proposal was approved after it was sent to the shipping ministry, he said.