Dhaka, Mar 3 -Dhaka City Corporation has undertaken a massive project to construct 45 high-rise buildings at Mohammadpur to rehabilitate thousands of stranded Pakistanis who have been inhabiting squalid refugee camps for nearly four decades.

After completion, the project will provide permanent housing to 38,667 families of the Mohammadpur Geneva Camp.

The government appears to have taken the decision after realising, 39 years after Bangladesh gained independence, that Pakistan will never take them back.

The proposed project, aiming to build the accommodations over 15 acres of land in the six camps at Town Hall area and Geneva Camp, was presented at a meeting on Wednesday in the Local Government Division's conference room.

LGRD minister Syed Ashraful Islam and state minister Jahangir Kabir Nanak gave various directives for amendments, additions and subtractions needed in the project.

The ministers also urged speedy finalisation of the project and submission to the ministry.

DCC itself will implement the project at an approximate cost of Tk 1,260 crore following approval of ECNEC.

'Dana Media', the organisation which made the architectural design of the project on behalf of DCC, presented various aspects of the project in the meeting.

According to the DCC, the project would be implemented on approximately 13 acres of land of the Geneva Camp and one acre of land of the Town Hall camp. Under the project, 45 fifteen-storied buildings will be built with nine 575 square feet flats on every floor. The project is expected to be completed within four years of the start of construction.

Each flat will have two bedrooms, a toilet, a dining room, a kitchen, a veranda and a corridor. Each building will have two elevators and two staircases. The ground floor will be left vacant for use as education institutions, mosques, markets or community spaces.

The total project is saving about Tk 350 crore in cost as the land belongs to the government. However, it will cost Tk 732.62 crore for construction. Another Tk 2 crore would be needed to rehabilitate camp-dwellers to the flood control embankment area on west of Mohammadpur during construction.

LGRD minister Syed Ashraful Islam asked the related bodies to formulate plans on utilisation of the space that will be freed after the project is implemented.

Two and half lakh stranded Pakistanis, known as Biharis, have been living in Bangladesh since the liberation in 1971. Pakistan did not respond to Bangladesh's request to repatriate them since the early phase of repatriation in the 90s.

Those who weren't repatriated in that phase are living in subhuman conditions at various camps around the country, including camps in Mohammadpur and Mirpur of the capital.

(Ref:bdnews)

BangladeshHazrat Ali, 2010-03-03 13:31, Hit : 505

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