Housing project for public servants in the offing

The government is set to build high-rise buildings for its officials and employees in a bid to address their existing housing problem, officials said.
As part of the move, a recent meeting on building houses for public servants has suggested forming a high-powered central steering committee to coordinate the issues of building houses on government's land in different places.
The meeting has also decided to send detailed information on unused lands, owned by different ministries/divisions, to the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) by November 15, 2016.
Besides, the steering committee will prepare policy/guideline in this regard. Next course of action will be taken as early as possible based on the guideline.
The Prime Minister had already made her intention in this regard, a high official of the land ministry said.
The housing project will be implemented at Savar, Amin Bazar, Ashulia, Keraniganj, Tongi and Narayanganj on the outskirts of the capital city.
The officers and other staff of government offices doing their jobs in and around the capital city will get flats to be built under the project, he said.
Currently, about 92 per cent government officials of Dhaka city and adjoining areas are deprived of housing facility.
The government has provided accommodation to only 8.0 per cent of its employees in the capital, according to data of the Ministry of Housing and Public Works.
At present, there are 148,910 government employees in Dhaka city. Of them, only 13,052 enjoy such facility, the data showed.
"Initiatives by the ministries/divisions concerned are underway to select unused land under different ministries at Savar, Amin Bazar, Ashulia, Keraniganj, Tongi and Narayanganj to resolve housing problem," a senior land ministry official said.
The land ministry has already sent letters to different ministries on instructions of the principal secretary of the PMO.
The government was working on housing facility for its all officials and employees by 2019, Planning Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal told a discussion meeting held at Dhaka Club in the city in April last.
In last October, the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) approved a project undertaken to build more than 1,000 flats for government employees in Dhaka.
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