The Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha (Rajuk) is set to finalise the master agreement with the Malaysian authorities for implementing its largest flat project at Uttara Residential Model Town involving Tk 53 billion, officials said.
They said the master agreement needs to be agreed upon by both the parties (Bangladesh and Malaysia) as it will cover all the major aspects of the scheme including financial matters, mode of payment, timeframe, type of infrastructure and facilities.
Project insiders said a delegation of the Malaysian government will sit for final discussion with the Rajuk over the draft master agreement on Sunday next.
When contacted, Rajuk Chief Engineer Md. Hafizur Rahman Munshi confirmed the meeting schedule, saying that the meeting is very vital for the project as a complete master agreement is required for vetting by the Ministry of Law before sending it to the cabinet purchase committee for final approval.
"We're hoping that we'll be able to reach a consensus over the master agreement during the visit," he said.
He said the city development authorities have already taken all kinds of preparations to make a quick start of the construction activities as the ministry wants to begin the
flat hand-over process from December, 2016.
The Malaysian government will build a total of 8,400 apartments in Block-B and Block-C under G2G (government to government) basis while the Rajuk through local construction firms will construct 6,636 apartments in Block-A, according to the project profile.
Seeking anonymity, a senior Rajuk official involved in the housing scheme told the FE that they shared the draft with the Malaysian officials through e-mails for their observation or opinion if they have any.
"But we didn't receive any major observation from them about it and they agreed to visit Dhaka for completing the task with regard to the master agreement," he said, adding that the agreement will help secure 'go-ahead signal' from the respective governments.
About the timeframe of seeking public application for apartments in the categories of 1250 sq ft (square feet) and 1050 sq ft, he said they will invite fresh applications from interested people of various sections of the society soon after getting the government approval.
The Rajuk will seek fresh applications for 9,000 plus apartments as nearly 6,000 flats will be kept ready for the successful applicants who applied earlier before cancellation of the contract with the joint venture company ENA-DUNGA.
According to the draft master agreement, the Malaysian government will complete those flats within 30 months of construction works and will start receiving payments for expenses from 30th month to 42nd month.
It said the flats will be built with the model of Industrialized Building System (IBS) and also will have facilities like solar system, rainwater harvesting and Sewage Treatment Plant (STP) to make those environment-friendly.
The project is believed to play a significant role for giving modern accommodation facilities to a large number of families who do not have enough money to own living space in the overpopulated city where prices of land and flat are going up abnormally.
Talking to the FE, Member (Development) of the Rajuk Naim Ahmed Khan said they have been discussing the issue of bank financing for the applicants with several commercial banks and received good responses from some of them.
He said the price for per sq ft was fixed at Tk 4,500 for the flats to be built by the Malaysian government but prices for the apartments built by the Rajuk haven't been fixed yet.
As per the calculation, the price for a 1250 sq ft flat will stand at Tk 5.62 million while a 1050 sq ft flat will cost Tk 4.72 million.
jubairfe1980@gmail.com
