Several hundred new land offices will be constructed in 61 districts by 2019 in order to improve the maintenance of land records in the country.
The Tk537.25cr project was one of seven projects, valued at Tk3,511cr, approved by the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec) with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair, at the NEC conference room yesterday.
After the meeting, Planning Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal said it was not possible to better maintain land records because of the shabby condition of the existing land offices.
During the sixth phase of the “Construction of Upazila and Union Land Offices” project, 139 one-storey upazila land offices with four-storey foundations will be built along with 500 union land offices in 61 districts of seven divisions.
Costs for the new offices will come from the exchequer and the project will be implemented by June 2019 under the supervision of the Public Works Department, district administrations concerned and the Land Ministry.
Since 1985, under the same project in its previous five phases, land offices have been constructed in 345 upazilas and 1,014 unions.
The land record management system is important for industrialisation and urbanisation, officials said.
The new land offices will have solar panels with electricity generation capacity of 104.66kW and a digital land survey system.
Of the total project costs for the seven projects, government will provide Tk1,053cr from the national exchequer, donor agencies Tk2,041cr and the public departments concerned Tk417cr. Of the approved seven projects, five are new while two are revised projects.
The Tk2,519cr Ghorasal Third Unit Re-powering project was also approved, generating an additional 246 megawatts (MW) power.
Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) under the Power Division will implement the project by December 2017 at Palash upazila in Narsingdi.
Once the project is completed, the Planning Minister said an additional 246MW of power would be added to the existing power generation capacity of 170MW in the national grid.
The other projects approved at the meeting include the construction of a 14-storey building to serve as the head office of the Board of Investment at Sher-e-Bangla Nagar with Tk123cr (1st revised) and the widening with dividers of the Chittagong Oxygen circle to Hathazari portion of the Chittagong-Rangamati national highway (1st revised) worth Tk225cr.
The establishment of the passport personalisation complex project with Tk28cr, the supply and establishment of 33/11 kV electrical sub-station to keep the power supply stable at Sayedabad Water Treatment Plant Phase 2, worth Tk35cr, and finally talent scouting for sports and the modernisation of sporting facilities at BKSP, the state-run sport training complex, with Tk41cr.
