According to the revised project proposal, the construction work will be finished by December 2006 if it starts in April. But the project officials say it will need at least one year to complete the project from the time of beginning the work.

"The process of restarting the project is going on and we hope to start the construction work as soon as some formalities are completed," Shirin Akhter, project director of the International Mother Language Institute, told Star City.

According to the original project proposal, a building with 6,972 square metres floor space will be constructed and it will have a lounge, reception space, four VIP meeting rooms, a 500-seat hall room, two green rooms, research cells, a computer lab, a canteen, a library, a classroom, a language laboratory, an archive and a museum.

However, language laboratory, computer lab, museum, archive and library have been excluded from the revised project proposal, education ministry sources said. "This will hamper the main activities of the institute," said a ministry official.

He said the objective of establishing the institute is to preserve and develop the mother languages of all the countries and conduct research on them, but without language laboratory, computer lab, museum and archive this objective cannot be fulfilled.

"In absence of these facilities, the institute will become merely a warehouse of the education ministry," said the ministry official preferring anonymity. "Only a concrete structure cannot fulfil the vision and mission of the project," he added.

The Executive Committee of National Economic Council (Ecnec) approved the project in August 2000 after February 21 was recognised by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) as the International Mother Language Day in 1999.

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan laid the foundation stone of the institute in 2000 on 1.03 acres of land at Segunbagicha in the capital.

The construction began in April 2003 with the target to complete it by December 2005 and the work continued till September. But after a review meeting on September 28, 2003, the work was suspended at the directive of the ministry.

The education ministry issued an order in August 2004 to restart the construction, which was stopped following some 'disagreements' on the viability of the project. Then the project proposal was revised and sent to the Planning Commission for approval.

In the revised proposal, the number of staffs in the project has been reduced to 8 from 18 including administrative staff, curator, librarian, accounts officer and peons. The revised manpower is yet to get the approval by the manpower committee, sources said.

When asked, Momtajul Islam, secretary of the education ministry, declined to say anything about the project, saying that he has joined the ministry recently.