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Purbachal New Town ready for dwelling


Published : 11 Oct 2019 09:42 PM | Updated : 07 Sep 2020 10:55 PM

With a lot of city dwellers besetting with uncertain living scenarios, the dream of living in a planned city with access to all civic amenities is coming true, as the Purbachal New Town is almost ready for dwelling. Dubbed as a new way of doing things in order to improve accommodation facilities, more than 80 percent of development work, including land development (95 percent) and road construction (84 percent), bridge construction (60 percent) of the Purbachal New Town project, have been completed, authorities concerned said.

Besides, plot owners have now started constructing houses on their own plots while about 90 owners have constructed houses out of 105 applied. Talking to The Bangladesh Post on Thursday, Purbachal New Town Project Director (PD) Ujjwal Mallick said, “Around 25,000 plots have been allocated in the Purbachal New Town, of which about 16,000 plots have been transferred to their respective owners. Other plots have not been handed over as the development works are taking place on the plots. The remaining plots will be transferred to their respective owners by June 2020.”

About the progress of the project, he said, “We have already completed 95 percent land development work, constructed some 280 kilometres roads out of 320 kilometres, about 40 bridges out of 65 and hope we will be able to finish the rest of the work before the deadline.”

More than 80 per cent of developments that need to be made to make the town livable have already been done. Development of lakes, canals, internal roads, drains has made significant progress, the PD said. The PD also said, “The owners of about 16,000 plots can start constructing their houses on their plots now, adding, 90 owners have constructed their houses as they applied to RAJUK for construction.
Talking to this correspondent, other concerned officials of this project also confirmed the same about the progress of the project.

The Purbachal New Town is the country’s biggest township plan comprising about 6,150 acres of land located between the Shitalakhya and the Balu River at Rupgonj Upazila of Narayanganj and Kaligonj Upazila of Gazipur, to the north-east of Dhaka. The project comprises about 4577 acres of land under Rupganj of Narayanganj district, 150 acres of land under Khilkhet Thana and 1500 acres under Kaliganj of Gazipur district.

The project area has been divided into 30 sectors, which have around 25,000 residential plots of different sizes and 62,000 apartments with necessary infrastructure and urban facilities. According to the project plan, Purbachal will have 38.74 percent residential area, 25.9 percent for roads, 7.1 percent for lakes and canals, 6.6 percent for urban green and open spaces, 6.41 percent for administrative and commercial establishments, 6 percent for education, health and social infrastructure, 3.2 percent for institutions and industrial parks, and 2.5 percent for sports.

The RAJUK started acquiring land for the project in 1992 and the development work began in 2007 after getting the approval on 22 February 2005. The completion of the Purbachal New Town was kept lingering due to various obstacles, including land acquisition. The deadline of the project has been extended several times. The deadline now is June 2020. However, the government is trying to make the city ready by the end of this year.

The RAJUK is targeting to finish the work of canals and lakes by December this year but the progress may linger slightly depending on the weather condition. However, the project officials said, the canal project is a part of the beautification and it will not affect the completion of the main project.

The RAJUK is planning to construct 93 educational institutions and reconstruct two schools in the town, project director Ujjal Mallick said.
For the supply of gas, an LPG (liquefied petroleum gas) depot would be set up in each of the 30 sectors to supply bottled LPG to households. Electricity has been provided to 20 out of 30 sectors using overhead cables as the underground lining is very costly. Water supply systems will be set up soon, project officials said.

Other plan and attraction of the project A 142-storey iconic tower, the world’s third-tallest building and the tallest building in South Asia, will be built in Purbachal where all modern facilities like hotels, theatres and malls will be made available. Besides, there will be an international standard stadium with a capacity of 50 thousand spectators, a super model modern convention centre with a capacity of 10 thousand people, a world standard university, an international standard medical college and hospital, an eco-park and a golf course training centre for the development of golf, according to Rajuk officials.

Moreover, an international exhibition centre titled ‘Bangladesh China Friendship Exhibition Center’, a permanent venue for trade and fair, will be built at a cost of Tk 7.96 billion in Purbachal. Apart from this, construction of National Academy for Autism and Neuro Development Disabilities, setting up commercial auction and 4 police stations and relocation of some mosques and temples are underway in Purbachal.

An eight-lane wide expressway connects Dhaka airport road with the project. A metro rail will connect the project with Motijheel in future, according to the project plan.