City and Delegate Profiles 1 Bangladesh Benapole Benapole Pourashava (town) is located in Sharsha (Jessore district) about 7 km from Upazila headquarter and about 34 km from the district headquarter, Jessore. The Pourashava came into existence on 16th May 2006 as a `C’ Class Pourashava and became an `A’ Class Pourashava on 20 September 2011. The 2011 total population of the Pourashava is 88,672. Benapole Pourashava is governed by 1 Mayor and 12 Councilors – 9 male and 3 female. The Pourashava is spread over an area of 17.40 km2 and is divided into 9 wards consisting of 9 mouzas. Benapole Pourashava has regional significance because the Asian Highway and Railway line both pass through the Pourashava. The Pourashava faces many problems like the lack of planned residential areas, lack of electricity and safe drinking water, traffic congestion, lack of community facilities, lack of infrastructure facilities, and poor capacity of the Pourashava administration etc. Population size 88,672 Land area (km2) 17.4 Population density (per km2) 5,096 Md. Asraful Alam Liton Mayor, Benapole Municipality He is a businessman by profession and became the Mayor of Benapole in February 2011. South-South City Leaders’ Forum 2014 2 Bangladesh Chuadanga Chuadanga District was a sub-division of former Kushtia District and was upgraded to a District on 26th February, 1984. It was raised to the status of a Municipality in 1972 and became a “B” class Municipality in 1984. At that time, Chuadanga Municipality had an area of 32.67 km2 with three wards and 13 mahallas. It was upgraded to an “A” class Municipality in 1995 with an area of 37.39 km2, consisting of 9 wards, 41 mahallas, 13 mouzas and 71 mouza sheet (BBS-2001). The total population of the city is 174,250, and the population density is 4,660. There are 15,814 government and non-government holdings and 31,442 households in this city. The average family size is six persons per household. There is a network of 263 km of roadways and 54 km of drains in the city. In terms of the water supply systems, the city has 72 km of service lines, 10 production tube-wells and 3 over head tanks. The literacy rate is 62%. Population size 174,250 Land area (km2) 37.39 Population density (per km2) 4,660 Reajul Islam Joarder Mayor, Chuadanga Municipality Occupation: Business Educational qualification: HSC Bangladesh Savar The origin of the name Savar is thought to be a version of an ancient 7th- 8th century township of Shôrbeshshôr ("Lord of everything") or Shômbhar ("Collection") situated on the bank of the river known today as Bangshee. It was the capital of the Sanbagh Kingdom then. Based on pottery inscriptions dating to the sixth century, many foreign traders used to visit for business. There are also legends of the famous Bengali Buddhist monk Atish Dipankar having stayed at the Buddhist monastery at Rajashan for some time. Savar Pourashava is one of the Local Government Administrative units South-South City Leaders’ Forum 2014 3 located about 25 km northwest of Dhaka, the capital city of Bangladesh. Savar is famous for its Jatiyo SmritiSoudho, the National Monument for the Martyrs of the Liberation War of Bangladesh, garment industries and commercial activities. The garment industries have created many job opportunities, particularly for women. Savar Municipality has been facing rapid population growth, urbanization and industrialization. Savar as a satellite town offers employment opportunities within and outside the Pourashava area. To cope with demands of an increasing population, different public facilities for city dwellers are being developed rapidly. There are 30 primary schools, 4 high schools, 3 collages, 1 medical college, 2 technical institutes, 1 public library, and 1 heritage area (Raja Harish Chandra Bihar) in Savar Pourashava. Population size 587,041 Land area (km2) 14.08 Population density (per km2) 18,000 Sharf Uddin Ahmed Choudhury Chief Executive Officer, Savar Municipality Sharf Uddin Ahmed Choudhury is a mid-level bureaucrat. He joined the Bangladesh Civil Service in 1999. He earned his MSc degree from Chittagong University. He also earned an MBA degree from Northern University, Bangladesh. He has worked in different capacities including district administration (including Mymensingh Municipality) and different ministries; and is now the Chief Executive Officer in Savar municipality, Savar, Dhaka, which is a densely populated industrial area. In Bangladesh, city corporations and municipalities are mainly responsible for providing services in urban areas. In Savar municipality, he is responsible for the coordination, monitoring, policy formulation and implementation all activities including development projects under the direct supervision of the Mayor. He supervises all the staff of the municipality on behalf of the Mayor. As CEO, he supervises all on-going development projects ie. City Region Development Project and UPPR project. He is responsible for preparing the master plan of the municipality. During his tenure, he has gained significant knowledge in good governance, poverty reduction, community participation in municipality planning, etc. South-South City Leaders’ Forum 2014 4 Bangladesh Gaffargaon Located 41 km from the Mymensingh District town, Gaffargaon city stands on the banks of the Brammaputra river. Gaffargaon Municipality is a class-A municipality. It was established in 1999 and was a class-C city at that time. It was (re) classified as a class-A city in 2011. This municipality is divided into 9 wards and has a total population of around 60,000. Most of the people of this municipality are literate and in the service industry. Some of them are businessmen. It contains a government Degree College, two non-government Degree Colleges, Fazil Madrasha, Dakhil Madrasha, two Government High schools, two non- government High schools, one fire service station, one police station, one Government Hospital, one railway station and many other government and private offices. The major roads of this municipality are B.C road (25.02 K.M), C.C road (4.71 K.M), H.BB road (24.30 K.M) and earthen road (59.73 K.M). It is replete with natural beauty and I feel proud to govern this Municipality. Population size 60,000 Land area (km2) 5.33 Population density (per km2) 11,256 Kaiser Ahammad Mayor, Gaffargaon Municipality An Advocate and the elected Mayor of Gaffargaon Municipality since 17 January 2011, he is also the Elected Vice-President of the Municipal Association of Bangladesh (MAB). He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Law. South-South City Leaders’ Forum 2014 5 Bangladesh Dohar Dohar Municipality is a fast growing city located 40km from Dhaka, the capital city of Bangladesh. It is predominantly residential with a significant amount of land under commercial use. Joypara Debinagar Hat-Bazar is the main commercial center of the city. Residential houses with handloom industries are often seen in and around the city area. A large proportion of men of the city are expatriates, and their repatriations play an important role in the municipality’s economy. Several canals cross the municipality and one or two of them are connected with the mighty Padma river. The city has many narrow roads with frequent curves. There are three routes which connect the city with Dhaka metropolitan area. There is no planned drainage network and the central part of the city often faces water logging in the rainy season due to inefficient drains. There is no gas line, piped water supply and sewerage network. People use bottled gas/wood for cooking and hand-tube wells for drinking water. Many people use hygienic pit latrines with septic tanks. People generally are health conscious. Most parents are careful about their children and ensure their school going. The city has a good amount of agriculture land, with fresh vegetables and food crops available. There is a lot of greenery around the roads and houses. As Dhaka city is only 40 km away from Dohar, it could be a potential satellite city of Dhaka for healthy living with greenery. Population size 71,362 Land area (km2) 19.73 Population density (per km2) 3,617 Md. Mashiur Rahman Executive Engineer, Dohar Municipality Mr. Md. Mashiur Rahman completed his diploma in civil engineering from Rajshahi Polytechnic Institute in 1988. He also has a B.Sc. in Civil Engineering from World University of Bangladesh (2012). He entered the Local Government Division (LGD), Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development and Co-operatives, Government of the people’s republic of Bangladesh in 1990 as Sub-assistant Engineer (civil) of Shahazadpur Municipality, Sirajgonj. He then worked for Fulbari, Municipality, Dinajpur, Madhabdi and Ghorashal Municipality, Norosingdi, Singra Municipality, Natore and is currently working for Dohar Municipality, Dhaka since 1999. In 1999, he was promoted to Assistant Engineer (civil) and subsequently promoted in 2011 to the position of Executive Engineer. South-South City Leaders’ Forum 2014 6 During his tenure at the present municipality, he has strived for a self- sufficient, planned, beautiful looking and inclusive city. After his joining the municipality, they formed CBO (community based organization), WLCC (Ward Level Co-ordination Committee) and TLCC (Town Level Co-ordination Committee) for better participation of citizens in Municipality’s work. To ensure better quality of development work, a Quality Control Laboratory has also been set up. To better serve the citizens, the Municipality office has been computerized. South-South City Leaders’ Forum 2014 7 Bhutan Samdrup Samdrup Jongkhar Thromde or Municipality is located in the south eastern foothills of the country. It covers an area of 5 km2, consisting of two towns Jongkhar – namely, Samdrup Jongkhar and Dewathan. Samdrup Jongkhar Municipality was established only in 2010. The total population of these two towns is roughly 10,000 people. Samdrup Jongkhar town lies at an altitude of 150 meters above sea level whereas Dewathang town is 800 meters above sea level.