The way unauthorised structures are sprouting in the Kuakata beach town makes its fate uncertain. A concrete mess is in the making. Several committees are working to build Kuakata as an ideal resort town but not all are conforming to the plan. A master plan for Kuakata, the second largest natural beach in the country, was approved two years ago. It slapped a ban on construction of structures without permission. The prohibition raised expectation of the growth of a well-planned and beautiful beach town. With the relevant committee rejecting flawed plans, and the local influential quarters disregarding the decisions, the town's view continues to deteriorate. The small town in the southern district of Patuaklhali laced by the Bay of Bengal is now chockablock with myriad types of multi-storey buildings. Most of them have failed to get approval of the committee comprising architects. The mayoral office has expressed its inability to stop the errant builders.
The Cox's Bazar has for the last six months been plagued with the pervasive presence of Rohingya refugees. A lot of tourists feel disinclined to visit the site. Many have shunned the beach and the resort town. They now prefer Kuakata to the attractive Cox's Bazar, as well as St Martin's in the Teknaf upazila. A properly planned and idyllic Kuakata could have attracted the potential tourists. The beach has been constrained by bad communication, lack of hotels and lodges and the unsightly look of its area as a tourist spot. To the disappointment of many local small businesses, the beach is yet to be able to lure remarkable number of tourists in nearly three decades. The ongoing illegal construction spree prompting the fast loss of the town's tourist-site character is feared to deter prospective tourists.
The high-power committees formed to give Kuakata a major face-lift are required to swing into full action. Mere rejection of the wrong building designs is not going to serve any purpose. In the meantime, the otherwise-emboldened constructors will turn more reckless. The turning-down of wrong building plans is being outnumbered by the defiant attempts to construct structures. It portends worse times for the town.
Kuakata people can ill afford to see the uplift project go awry. A great opportunity will be missed. Apart from the Housing and Public Works Ministry, the initiative involves several government bodies headed by the Barisal Divisional Commissioner and the Patuakhali Deputy Commissioner (DC). On top of all, the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) is watchful of the Kuakata project's progress. In May last it instructed the authorities concerned to execute the master plan, vesting power in the DC's office to stringently put into effect the rules and prerequisites for building structures in Kuakata. The intervention of the PMO ought to be viewed as a great fillip and morale booster to the committees involved in Kuakata's development. The slipshod treatment that has been meted out to the tourist site since the beginning is indeed distressing. This is chiefly because of the fact that Kuakata is full of potential for becoming a thriving attraction. With domestic tourism on sharp increase, the nation is not prepared to see a prospective tourist spot go to waste. The sooner Kuakata undergoes a thorough remodelling, the better.
