Raise taxes for mobilisation of internal resources

"To get better services, people will have to pay more," he replied when asked whether it would create extra pressure on city dwellers.

According to Mannan Bhuiyan, Dhaka City Corporation did not increase taxes in last twelve years.

Earlier addressing as chief guest at a solid waste management conference, the LGRD minister cautioned that major cities would collapse very soon if a modern system of waste management is not taken in hand.

He said open dumping should be stopped and instead controlled dumping should be introduced to protect environment from further degradation.

He said the previous waste management system was manual and the government wants to introduce a modern system by replacing it.

Bhuiyan stressed the need for good governance in solid management through accountability and transparency.

He refuted the allegation that two new city corporations- Sylhet and Barisal- are being subjected to government negligence.

"We do not discriminate against the two cities while distributing resources," he said categorically responding to an allegation of Sylhet City Mayor Badruddin Ahmed Kamran at the conference.

The conference was told that the government has taken up a master plan for solid waste management in six city corporations.

The acute waste management problem facing all the major cities would be resolved through implementing the master plan by 2015, the minister hoped.

The master plan was formally announced at the Waste Management Conference 2006 organised jointly by Dhaka City Corporation (DCC) and Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) at a city hotel.

The plan would be implemented in three phases- immediate, midterm and longterm.

Money for implementing the project would come from three sources, government, development partners and own resources.

Mayors of five cities Sadeque Hossain Khoka, Mizanur Rahman Minu, Sheikh Tayebur Rahman, Badruddin Ahmed Kamran and Advocate Mujibur Rahman Sarwar also spoke about their vision in waste management at the conference.

Japanese Ambassador to Bangladesh Matsushiro Horiguchi also spoke on the occasion.

Dhaka City Mayor Sadeque Hossain Khoka said, " The conference is a milestone in expressing our commitment to accelerate the improvement of solid waste management in the country."

He read out an eight-point declaration on behalf of all the city mayors.

The declaration said solid waste management should be based on good governance, partnership with communities and appropriate technologies.

It said solid waste management is an essential part of urban services to protect health and environment of the city dwellers.

In the declaration, the conservancy department of DCC was renamed as Solid Waste Management Department with necessary reforms and restructuring.

The declaration also laid emphasis on establishing a network among the cities to stimulate exchange of knowledge, technology and experience for capacity building, staff training, developing supportive policy and organising solid waste conferences at suitable intervals in different cities.