The construction of Joynagar apartments for the government and semi-government officials in the capital’s Mirpur is set to miss 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 this year.
A sheer dilly-dallying in land-acquiring move and negligence in starting the groundwork are attributed to the procrastination.
The likely missing of deadline for the housing project dissuaded the government and semi-government officials from purchasing Joynagar residential apartments.
The government approved the Tk321.86 crore housing project on a four-acre area at section 15 in Mirpur.
The residential project will feature 520 apartments – each having 1,500 square feet – in five 14-storey buildings.
National Housing Authority (NHA) is entitled to implement the project.
The NHA officials now said the timeframe for the implementation of the government-run housing project had been extended to December 2016.
Md Didarul Alam, a Bangladesh Bank official, told the Dhaka Tribune, “At a time I was more interested to buy an apartment in Joynagar housing project, but now I am faced with a dilemma.”
“Checking on the progress, it seems that the National Housing Authority will not be able to meet the new deadline,” he added.
NHA Executive Engineer Md Khaled Hossain, also the project manager, said: “It will take more than one year to take possession of the housing project land now illegally occupied by grabbers.”
“When we go in for an eviction drive, the grabbers file writ petition 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.
The project manager added that according to the present market rate, each apartment would cost around Tk60.9 lakh, and its selling price would be around Tk68.1 lakh depending on the price of construction materials.
The NHA officials said buyers would be able to purchase apartments by installment for 20 years.
