Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives State Minister Mir Shahe Alam on Saturday directed upazila administrations to spend 10–15 per cent of revenue collected from haats and bazaars on installing solar panels, while urging government officials to adopt solar power at their own homes.
Speaking at a review meeting on solar power, dengue prevention and development programmes at the Local Government Engineering Department (LGED) headquarters in Agargaon, Dhaka, Shahe Alam also instructed upazila executive engineers to accelerate road development and maintenance, renewable-energy expansion and transparent implementation of development projects, the ministry said in a press release. The Local Government Division identifies Shahe Alam as the incumbent state minister.
Shahe Alam said his recent visit to China had given him an opportunity to see large-scale solar-power generation and encouraged officials to install panels at their residences.
He said about 6,000 kilometres of roads had so far been paved, but many roads required widening, reconstruction and long-term maintenance.
He asked officials to submit project proposals for road widening, reconstruction and major maintenance works.
The state minister said the prime minister had recently approved a project to maintain about 5,000 kilometres of rural roads.
If maintenance proposals were submitted from across the country, funding would be allocated from the main budget and upazila executive engineers would be able to meet necessary expenditure from those allocations, he said.
Shahe Alam also instructed contractors to deploy two security personnel during the day and another two at night to guard newly carpeted roads for 72 hours, the period he said was generally required for the surface to fully harden.
He urged upazila engineers to take responsibility for ensuring the requirement was followed.
The state minister said Bangladesh’s fiscal year would run from 1 April to 31 March from 2028 under a government decision approved by the Cabinet.
The Cabinet decision provides for fiscal 2027-28 to be a nine-month transitional year from July to March, with the April-March calendar taking full effect from fiscal 2028-29. Prothomalo
Shahe Alam said the change would provide a longer period from August-September through March for development work during the dry season.
He also referred to constitutional changes linked to the July Charter, saying a parliamentary constitutional amendment committee was working on incorporating the agreed provisions into the Constitution.
Issues under consideration include an interim government system, a bicameral parliament and the balance of powers between the president and prime minister, according to the release. Parliament’s special constitutional amendment committee has said it is working towards implementing the July Charter through constitutional amendments.
Shahe Alam said evaluation-based discussions would be held with upazila executive engineers in future when necessary.
Local Government Division Secretary Md Shahidul Hasan attended the meeting as special guest, while LGED Chief Engineer Md Belal Hossain chaired it. Senior officials from the department and ministry were also present.
Official records confirm Md Shahidul Hasan as Local Government Division secretary and Md Belal Hossain as LGED chief engineer in current charge.
