Govt takes Tk 12.34b housing projects at Mirpur for officers

The government has initiated two residential projects in the capital's Mirpur area with an estimated cost of Tk 12.34 billion to mitigate housing problem of its class-one officers, a housing ministry official said.
The proposed two projects were recommended in a meeting of the housing ministry's project selection committee on August 31, with housing secretary Golam Rabbani in the chair. The respective development project proposals (DPPs) will be sent to the Planning Commission (PC) by next week for approval.
One of the apartment projects will be implemented at the Public Works Department (PWD) Wood Workshop Compound at Mirpur-6, and the other at Paikpara.
The first one at Mirpur-6 will have ten 20-storeyed buildings, where there will be 1,064 flats. Of these, 532 flats will be of 1,500 sqft, and 532 flats of 1,237 sqft. PWD will construct the buildings from January 2015 to December 2018 period. The estimated cost of the project is Tk 7.79 billion.
The other project at Paikpara will have eight 20-storeyed buildings, where there will be 608 flats. Of the total flats, 228 will be of 1,250 sqft, and 380 will be of 1,000 sqft. The implementation period of the project is from July 2014 to June 2018. Its estimated cost is Tk 4.55 billion.
Ministry sources said the lands, where the projects are proposed, belong to PWD. If PC approves these, beginning of construction work will not be delayed, as there is no time consuming process like land acquisition.
There are about 1.2 million government officers and staffs in the country. Of these employees, only eight per cent get residence facility. The government has set a target to increase the rate to 15 per cent.
With implementation of these projects less than one per cent of the total government employees will get accommodation facility.
An official said the housing ministry submitted many such residential project proposals for the government employees before. But PC did not approve those, and successive governments did not give importance to the housing problem.
At present the Prime Minister has repeatedly asked the ministry to take initiatives to reduce sufferings of the government employees.
The official said housing problem is very critical for them. The demand for residence is higher in the capital, whereas many government apartments remain vacant outside Dhaka.
The government is emphasising providing residence facility in the capital, as low-paid staffs and officials cannot afford private apartments because of their high rent, he also said.
"We hope the present proposals will be placed in the ECNEC. The PM has prioritised the projects," the official added, expressed hope of getting approval for them this time.
According to the year-wise financial and physical target plan, PWD will need an allocation of Tk 880 million in FY 2014-15 for completing 4.77 per cent of the superstructure and 41 per cent foundation of the Mirpur-6 project.
The organisation will need Tk 1.83 billion in FY 2015-16 to complete 24.82 per cent superstructure and 13.23 per cent foundation, Tk 3.71 billion in FY 2016-17 to complete 57.04 per cent superstructure and 45.67 per cent foundation, and Tk 1.36 billion in FY 2017-18 to complete 13.37 per cent superstructure.
For the Paikpara project, PWD has proposed to allocate Tk 440 million to complete the foundation and superstructure same as the Mirpur-6 project. It will need Tk 1.13 billion in FY 2015-16, Tk 2.01 billion in FY 2016-17, and about Tk 970 million in FY 2017-18.