The government has taken a step to reduce the housing crisis for government officials in order to get better services from them.
As part of its move, the Ministry of Housing and Public Works is undertaking a project titled “Construction of multi-storey residential buildings for government officials in the Eskaton Officers Quarters area of Dhaka” involving Tk 747.11 crore.
A planning official said the project has been prepared for approval at the next meeting of the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC).
If approved, it will be implemented by the Department of Public Works from this year to June 2023.
Earlier, the PEC (Project Evaluation Committee) meeting of the project was held at the end of last year.
Planning Minister, MA Mannan has recently said at a programme the government has taken initiatives to reduce the housing crisis.
He said if the government can ensure residential service for government officials, they can do more work for the betterment of the country.
“As part of this, the construction of residential buildings for various categories of government employees, including the construction of residential buildings for the employees of the Ministry of Planning and Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban, has already been approved and some of them have been implemented. This is also such a project, Mannan added.
However, the Department of Public Works has informed that the number of government officials and employees working in Dhaka city is 1,48,915.
They have 13,052 flats to live in, which is only 8 percent of the total demand and inadequate compared to the need.
Many officials and employees are being forced to live in private houses with higher rent due to lack of government housing, which is putting them in financial difficulties.
Again many are living in substandard homes, which are disrupting their standard of living.
To address the housing problem of government officials and employees, the Prime Minister directed increasing their housing facilities from 8 percent to 40 percent.
It is learned that there are 31 buildings (4, 5, 6 storey buildings and some temporary structures) on 11.5 acres of land in the Eskaton Officers Quarter Campus.
Some of the installations were built 80 years ago and some 24 years ago. There are currently 198 flats in these buildings.
The project proposes demolishing these old buildings and constructing five 13-storey buildings with an area of 1800 sq ft and new five 13-storey buildings with an area of 1800 sq ft and construct 480 flats and some other structures.
