Chottogram City Mayor Dr. Shahadat Hossain said various administrative steps have been taken to make the Chottogram City Corporation (CCC) self-reliant in addition to eliminating various past irregularities.

The mayor said this at a special general meeting organized with the committee formed by the Local Government Department to properly manage the overall activities of the CCC at the CCC office in Tiger Pass on Thursday.

He said that due to corruption, Chottogram City Corporation is not getting the right revenue. The financial crisis is hindering the CCC from carrying out its service activities.

The mayor said that the shopping complexes and markets to which we have rented out, with whom we have agreements. If it is in the agreement, the person in whose name the shop is allocated will have to operate the business. But if he has rented it to someone else, then we can renew such agreements or cancel these agreements.

Giving instructions to cancel the CCC billboard contracts, the mayor said, cancel the contracts of all the billboards that are there. We are being deprived of an incredible amount of tax due to irregularities.

He said, 7 billboards have been given in the Central Plaza. They are earning 40-50 million taka annually from these billboards. But we are getting only 21 lakh taka annually.

Regarding the steps taken to make the Chittagong City Corporation financially self-sufficient, the mayor said, by the grace of God, we are getting Premier University back. The one percent fee that we have asked for from the port is progressing positively.

He also said, we have been assured of getting the holding tax that the Chottogram City Corporation receives from the port at a commercial rate. It will probably be 162 crore taka annually.”

Seeking everyone’s cooperation, the mayor said, “We want to turn the City Corporation into a revenue-generating institution. Only then will we be able to provide more services to the citizens in the education and health sectors.

The meeting was attended by the Chief Executive Officer of the Chottogram City Corporation, Sheikh Muhammad Touhidul Islam, Secretary Md. Ashraful Amin, along with the departmental and branch heads of the City Council, and representatives of various government agencies in the city were present.