ECNEC okays Tk 3.37b land database project
'It'll ensure transparency, reduce disputes'
FE REPORT | Wednesday, 30 September 2020
The government will prepare a digital database for ensuring a transparent land management system, as it approved a Tk 3.37-billion project in this regard on Tuesday.
Presided over by Prime Minister (PM) Sheikh Hasina, the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) endorsed the project along with three others at a combine cost of Tk 7.96 billion.
After the meeting, Planning Minister M A Mannan said a digital land database will be prepared under the project, and every plot will be characterised by its nature.
He also said once this project is properly implemented, land-related disputes and other incidents will come down significantly along with influence of middlemen in this regard.
The PM has stressed the need for bringing the countrywide sub-registrar offices under the digital system to further ease land registration process and thus reduce sufferings of the service-seekers, Mr Mannan added.
The Planning Comm-ission Member Zakir Hossain Akand said the Ministry of Land will implement the mouza- and plot-based national digital land zoning project by June 2024 with entire fund from the government.
The project will cover some 56,348 mouzas under 4,562 unions of 493 upazilas in all the 64 districts of the country.
Satellite images will be used for this digital land zoning, while mouza maps will also be digitalized, he added.
According to the project proposal, it will ensure collection, scanning, digitization, database creation, editing plot checking, geo-referencing mouza map, matching of mouza map, and field checking of some 1,38,412 sheets of maps.
Meanwhile, the ECNEC meeting also approved the Bangladesh regional domestic road transport project-1 (Chattogram-Dhaka-Ashuganj), and the connected river ways dredging and installation of ancillary infrastructures including terminals project (1st revision) by extending its previous cost by Tk 1.49 billion to Tk 33.49 billion.
The other approved projects are: the canal re-excavation for addressing water-logging at Begumganj, Chatkhil, Senbag and Sonaimuri upazilas in Noakhali project at Tk 718.7 million cost, and the Bhairab River re-excavation project (2nd phase) at Tk 2.37 billion cost.
The planning minister said out of the Tk 7.96 billion total cost for four approved projects in the ECNEC, Tk 6.24 billion will come from the government's internal resources, while the rest Tk 1.73 billion as project assistance from external sources.
The PM has stressed the need for dredging the rivers, canals and other waterways properly since Bangladesh is a riverine country, and goods can be transported through waterways at low cost, he added.