Deadline for applications ends

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Md Fazlur Rahman
At last the deadline for submission of applications for two housing projects of the city development authority ended Thursday with over 100,000 applicants vying for around 7,000 plots, officials said.
Initially, the last dates for the procurement and submission of forms for the projects of Uttara Model Town (third phase) and Purbachal New Model Town were December 17 and December 18 last year, according to the November 18 and 19, 2008 announcements of Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha (Rajuk).
But it later extended the deadlines twice - first on December 17 and then in early January and set April 29 and 30 deadlines due to huge rush of applicants.
The deadline expired Thursday with over 1,08,000 applicants submitting application forms at selected branches of Sonali, Janata, Agrani, Standard Chartered and Citi banks, officials at Rajuk said.
Rajuk had earlier said the final list of the plot winners would be published within two months of the closing of form submission.
In late March, Abdul Mannan Khan, the state minister for housing, also said that the government would finalise the allocation of plots at Uttara Model Town and Purbachal New Town projects by June this year.
But a senior official of Rajuk, who wishes to remain anonymous, told the FE Thursday that there might be some delay and the allocation might take place in early July.
Rajuk took a deposit of Tk 75,000 for a 3-katha plot, Tk 100,000 for a 5-katha, Tk 150,000 for 7.5-katha and Tk 200,000 for 10-katha plot under the two projects.
They also took $ 1,500 for a 3-katha plot, $ 2,000 for 5-katha, $ 2,500 for 7.5-katha and $ 3,500 for 10-katha plot from non-resident Bangladeshi applicants.
People under 12 categories including Members of Parliament, justices, journalists, civil servants, members of autonomous bodies, armed forces personnel, artistes/sportspersons, businesspersons, private service holders and wage-earners were eligible to apply.
Rajuk invited applications for over 6,000 plots in Kaliganj of Gazipur under the Purbachal project on November 18 last year in four categories (3 katha, 5 katha, 7.5 katha and 10 katha) and for around 870 plots under the third phase of Uttara project on the following day in two categories (3 and 5 katha).
The Purbachal Project is situated in Rupganj upazila of Narayanganj district and Kaliganj upazila of Gazipur district between the rivers Balu and Shitalakhya and the Uttara Residential Model Town (3rd Phase) Project is situated on the western side of the Uttara Model Town (2nd Phase) Project.