Chattogram city looks south to breathe

Chattogram, the commercial capital of the country, is running out of room. Hills, rivers, the sea and a rapidly swelling population have left the city with little option but to grow outward – and city planners have identified exactly where that growth should go.

The Chattogram Development Authority (CDA) is now betting heavily on Anwara, a predominantly agricultural upazila sitting just across the river Karnaphuli, to shoulder much of the metropolitan area’s expansion over the coming decades.

The strategy, framed as a “One City Two Town” model, is central to the Chattogram Metropolitan Area Master Plan 2025-2050, a long-term blueprint currently being finalised by the CDA.

“We have focused on Anwara because it is already well-connected with the city through bridge and tunnel over and beneath the river Karnaphuli, while also hosting export processing zones and has future potentials for industrial expansion,” said Md Abu Issa Anshary, project director of the Master Plan and CDA’s deputy chief town planner.

The numbers underpinning this urgency are stark. The Chattogram metropolitan area – covering parts of eight upazilas and spanning roughly 1,255 square kilometres – is home to over 6.2 million people today. By 2050, that figure is expected to reach eight million. 

With the city’s natural geography offering little room for conventional expansion, decentralisation has become less a choice than a necessity.

The Anwara Action Area Plan (AAP), prepared as a component of the master plan, covers approximately 7,315.5 acres across five unions: Anwara, Bairag, Bara-Uthan, Barakhain, and Chatari. 

The document envisions a sweeping transformation of what is today a largely rural landscape – one where agriculture currently accounts for 57% of land use – into a major industrial and urban zone of national significance.

The strategic case for Anwara extends well beyond geography. 

The area is positioned to serve as the primary logistics gateway between mainland Bangladesh and the Matarbari Deep Sea Port, anchoring the country’s broader blue economy ambitions. 

The Korean Export Processing Zone (KEPZ) already contributes substantially to national export earnings, while the planned Chinese Economic and Industrial Zone (CEIZ) and a proposed Free Trade Zone are expected to deepen the area’s role in international trade.

Connectivity is another decisive factor. The Karnaphuli Tunnel, which links Anwara directly to central Chattogram, has removed what was once a formidable geographic barrier, making the upazila far more viable as an urban extension than it might otherwise have been.

The scale of projected change is ambitious. Anwara’s population stood at around 60,434 in 2022; the AAP anticipates that figure rising to 724,223 by 2050 – nearly a twelvefold increase. Employment is forecast to grow from approximately 19,620 to 190,833 over the same period, driven largely by industrial and service sector expansion.

To accommodate this growth, planners propose a substantial restructuring of land use. Agricultural coverage would fall from 57% to 33%, whilst general urban land use would rise to 39% and industrial zones would expand to eight percent. 

The remaining farmland is earmarked for high-yield cultivation.

Infrastructure plans are equally substantial. A 47.8-kilometre road network is proposed, with the Anwara–Patenga corridor widened to 160 feet. 

A 24.5-acre truck terminal capable of handling 1,000 vehicles, a regional bus terminal, and improved links to Matarbari Port and Chattogram city centre are all included.

Community facilities – schools, clinics, a hospital, markets and parkland – are also planned, with 115.5 additional acres earmarked against a projected need of 136.2 acres.

Development is to be phased across three periods: infrastructure and industrial groundwork from 2025 to 2035; accelerated urbanisation from 2035 to 2045; and completion of the full urban framework by 2050. 

The CDA would serve as lead planning and regulatory authority, with a regional office established in Anwara, and a new municipal body proposed to handle day-to-day local governance.

Alongside Anwara, the master plan also recommends developing Patiya, Boalkhali and Hathazari upazilas as satellite towns. 

Funding is expected to draw on public investment, public-private partnerships, betterment levies and land readjustment mechanisms.

The master plan preparation project, approved in 2020, is due for completion by December this year.