The construction of mega housing projects under the National Housing Authority continues at a snail’s pace, with almost all of its housing development schemes behind their completion deadline.
The inefficiency of the construction authorities concerned, wrong selection of bidders, sheer dilly-dallying in land-recovering move and negligence in starting the groundwork are attributed to the delay.
Sources in the National Housing Authority (NHA) said there had been little progress in the implementation of five apartment projects belonging to the government-owned agency due to lack of funds and land, the High Court ruling because of the grabbers’ writ petitions, and bureaucratic tangle of the relevant ministry etc.
“It may not be possible to implement some of the projects within the scheduled time,” said an official of the NHA, preferring anonymity.
According to the NHA officials, there are five apartment projects for middle and low income people being implemented in and around the Dhaka city.
The five are Joynagar apartments for the government and semi-government officials in Mirpur, Anandanagar apartments at section 16 in Mirpur, 100-flat project at section 15 in Mirpur, Residential-cum-commercial multi-storey building at Nababganj upazila in Dhaka and Residential flats for middle income group at Dohar upazila in Dhaka.
The construction of Joynagar apartments is set to miss the deadline as much of the groundwork is yet to be laid. Undertaken in July 2011, the project was supposed to be completed by December 31 last year.
The government approved Tk321.86 crore for the housing project on a four-acre area at section 15 in Mirpur. Now the physical progress of the project is zero percent and financial progress 0.034%.
The residential project will feature 520 apartments – each having 1,500 square feet – in five 14-storey buildings. Sheer delay in land-recovering move and negligence in starting the groundwork are attributed to the procrastination.
The NHA officials now said the timeframe for the implementation of the government-run housing project had been extended to December 2016.
The construction of Anandanagar apartment delays is because land for the project is yet to be recovered from the grabbers. The project will have 1,456 flats – each with 1,385 square feet – in the 14-storey building of double basement on a total of 15.12-acre land.
The implementation period of the Tk893.96-crore housing project was between July, 2013 and June, 2016. At present there has been no progress in the Anandanagar project.
The construction of the 100-flat project at section 15 in Mirpur also continues at a very slow rate because of legal tangle. The High Court declared a stay order on the land recovery because of a writ petition by the land grabbers.
The 100-flat project, each with 1,500-square feet, in the 14-storey building will be constructed on a one-acre land.
The implementation period the Tk35-crore project was between July, 2011 and December, 2013.
The NHA has clearly failed to meet its implementation deadline and later extended time till June, 2016.
At present the physical progress of the construction project is only 7% and financial progress 0.38%.
According to the NHA officials, the construction of Nababganj residential-cum-commercial 12-soriey building is going on very slowly as a suitable bidder is yet to be entrusted with the task.
The Tk43.56-crore project time is scheduled to be completed in June 2014, starting from July, 2012, but its physical progress is zero percent and financial progress 3.74%.
Besides, the residential project in Dohar remains suspended since May 2013 as its bidder and construction companies have stopped work for reason unknown. Around 6% of the project work has been completed. The financial progress of the project is 5.05%.
When contacted, NHA Executive Engineer Md Khaled Hossain, also the project manager, denied facing fund crunch. He said: “It will take more time to take possession of most of the projects’ land occupied by the grabbers.”
“When we step in for an eviction drive, the grabbers file writ with the High Court against us. But at last we got permission from the Appellate
Division of the Supreme Court to reclaim the land from the grabbers,” he said.