According to the revised project proposal, the construction work would be completed by December 2006 if it started in April 2006. But the PP is still waiting for approval from the concerned ministry in order to restart the work.

The process to restart the construction has seen a very slow progress. When this correspondent had talked to the officials of project implementation unit of the education ministry in January this year, they said that the formalities were "in progress" and the construction would restart soon. But seven months have gone by and still there has been no sign of restarting the construction.

"In the revised proposal, the number of the project staff was reduced to half, 9 from 18. The ministries of finance and planning took six months to approve the reduced manpower," said a high official preferring anonymity.

According to sources, the revised project proposal was then sent to the Planning Commission and it is now waiting for the final approval of the finance minister.

However, Shirin Akhter, project director of International Mother Language Institute, is hopeful about the future of the project. "The construction will soon restart as the process is in the final stage," she said.

Since the revised proposal has not been approved as yet, project officials are not getting their salaries from July. "Although money has been sanctioned in the Annual Development Programme (ADP) in the current fiscal year, it cannot be released since the proposal is in the process," she added.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.