New milestone in building a smart Chittagong

To make Chittagong a smart, technology-based, clean and accountable city, the Chittagong City Corporation (CCC) has brought citizen services to a digital platform. As part of this, the one-stop citizen service mobile and web application ‘Our Chittagong’ has been officially inaugurated.

The app was inaugurated as the chief guest at a function organized at the Chittagong Engineers Institution Auditorium on Saturday (July 18) at 11 am by the Mayor of Chittagong City Corporation Dr. Shahadat Hossain.

Eastern Bank Limited (EBL) has financed the implementation of the app from the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) sector, and Vento Tech has done the technical development.

In his inaugural speech, Mayor Dr. Shahadat Hossain said, ‘Today is a glorious and groundbreaking day in the history of Chittagong City Corporation. We are living in a technology-dependent era where citizen services are not a luxury; rather, it is an essential demand of the time. The journey of ‘Our Chittagong’ app started to fulfill that demand.’

He said, ‘This is not just an app; it is a digital bridge between citizens and the City Corporation. Our goal is to build a smart, clean, transparent and accountable Chittagong.’

The Mayor said that from now on, citizens can take pictures of various problems in 10 categories including roads, waterlogging, mosquito infestation, garbage, street lights, sewers and others from home and report them directly to the City Corporation along with the location. Not only can they file complaints, but they can also track the stage of the complaint, whether it is ongoing or has been resolved, live.

Apart from this, various important citizen services including emergency services, direct communication with the mayor, holding tax, trade license and other important services will be available on one platform through the app.

He further said that through the officer dashboard, ward-based heat map and automatic ticketing system, it will be possible to quickly identify which type of problems are occurring in which area. This will increase administrative efficiency and also ensure the accountability of the city corporation towards the citizens.

The Mayor said, ‘It is not possible for a single institution to make a city 100% beautiful. For this, the active participation of citizens is required. ‘Our Chittagong’ app has opened a new door for that participation.’

He urged the citizens of Chittagong to download the app and play an active role in keeping their city beautiful, clean and livable.

The Mayor further said, ‘We want to build a city corporation where citizens do not have to go to the office to get services; rather, technology will deliver services to the citizens. This is our commitment to build a smart Chittagong.’

In his speech as the president at the event, Acting Chief Executive Officer and Secretary of Chittagong City Corporation Mohammad Ashraful Amin said that the ‘Our Chittagong’ app was born as a result of the mayor’s visionary thinking.

He said that citizens will not only be able to express their opinions on various issues including complaints, development-related suggestions, proposals for construction of new infrastructure, parks, playgrounds, footover bridges, development of hospitals and educational institutions through this app. A polling system has also been integrated into the app to receive citizen opinions.

He said that information on various services including trade license, holding tax, ward office certificate and online application facilities will be added to this app in phases. In addition, important citizen information including information on officials and employees, hospital information will also be added to it in phases.

Mohammad Ashraful Amin also said that there are plans to connect cameras based on artificial intelligence (AI) technology to the CCC. These cameras will automatically identify long-standing garbage, waterlogging or other citizen problems on the side of the road and send complaints to the City Corporation system.

He also said that there is a plan to launch most citizen services including holding tax, trade license completely online within the next two months.

He said that no money was spent from the Chittagong City Corporation’s own funds in the construction of this state-of-the-art digital platform. The entire project has been implemented with the funding of the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) fund of Eastern Bank Limited.

Chittagong WASA Managing Director Engineer Selim Md. Jane Alam, DIG Chittagong Range Md. Moniruzzaman, Chittagong Metropolitan Police Commissioner Hasan Md. Shawkat Ali, politician Abul Hashem Bakkar, heads of various departments of the CCC, senior officials of government and private organizations, political leaders, technologists and representatives of civil society were present at the event.