The government is set to bring all Bangladesh's major cities under an extended digital mapping project, to better execute development programmes.

An ECNEC meeting on Thursday, chaired by prime minister Sheikh Hasina, approved the 'Improvement of the Digital Mapping System of Survey of Bangladesh' at an estimated cost of Tk 181.43 crore.

The digital topographic survey will be launched by the Bangladesh Survey Department at all divisional headquarters across the country, said planning secretary Habibullah Majumdar after the meeting.

A topographic map is a detailed and accurate graphic representation of natural and manmade features on the ground. The project paper states that the aim is to prepare and supply highly detailed digital topographical data to better plan and execute public and private sector development programmes.

A similar project was first approved at a cost of Tk 114.76 crore at an ECNEC meeting towards the end of 2007 and expected to end in 2013, but it did not begin in full swing, Majumdar said. It says that 1: 5000 scale digital topographic maps and digital databases have been created for Dhaka city under the previous project, but not for other divisional headquarters.

The revised mapping project is likely to be completed in 2016, he said. Under the new project, 160 digital topographic maps of 1:5000 scale and 160 databases will be created in the five other divisional headquarters. The present base map of the country built on a 1: 5000 analogue scale is not rich enough in information, says the project paper.

The ECNEC meeting also approved four other projects on Thursday— Tk 188 crore Eastern Bangladesh Bridge Improvement project, Tk 134 crore Barisal City Corporation Infrastructure Development Project, Tk 85 crore Dinajpur Jail Reconstruction Project and a Tk 46 crore road development project.

- bdnews