Housing plan for govt employees curtailed
Kausar Islam Ayon
The housing and public works ministry has reduced the number of flats for sales to government employees in hire-purchase schemes from 500 to 360, sources said.Ministry officials said the allocated funds could not bear the cost of 500 flats as the cost of raw material shot up. The price of a flat fixed at Tk 11.40 lakh on average increased to Tk 14.84 lakh. "The government is supposed to fund the five-year project. We were supposed to receive Tk 22 crore last year from the government but received only Tk 8 crore," a project official said. The Executive Committee of National Economic Council (Ecnec) in a meeting on September 8 asked the authorities to complete the work in time, but the rest of the fund was not transferred. "We have applied to the finance ministry through the housing ministry for a special allotment but we are not sure whether we will get it in time," he said. The government began the project for government employees in 1997, mindful of the housing crisis in Dhaka. The initial budget was estimated at Tk 53.56 crore to construct 500 flats in Lalmatia and Mohammadpur. But the budget was revised by the project committee and increased to Tk 57 crore before the project was approved at the Ecnec meeting in April 1998. "We could not cut the budget although we reduced the number of flats. We are adding lifts, tiles and mosaic to all apartments, which were not initially included in the proposal," another official said. With the reduction in flat numbers, only 8 percent government employees will get the accommodation. Those who draw 40 percent of the basic pay in house rent have to stay in rented houses, according to the arrangement. The project committee allocated 200 flats by lottery although there were 1,800 applicants, sources said, adding it will take time to hand over the flats to the winners, on hopes some could take over the flats by December. "We wrote the housing ministry for permission to go ahead with the second lottery to distribute the other 160 flats. This may not be possible by December as we did not hear back from the ministry," the official said. Whether or not the project will receive all funds to meet the June 2005 deadline remains unanswered.
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