Begunbari-Hatirjheel
Work slows down on land acquisition hitch
Helemul Alam
The road-embankment work of Begunbari-Hatirjheel development project is being delayed as the process of acquiring land has not been completed yet.
Sources said the work of only 2.70 kms of the road-embankment has so far been completed out of about 11 km because of delay in acquiring land. The width of the embankment will be 60 feet, including service road, footpath and walkway.
“The progress of work is very slow as we have not got the acquired land yet,” said Prof Mujibur Rahman of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (Buet) whose team conducted the feasibility study of the project.
However, Housing and Public Works Secretary ASM Rashidul Hai told The Daily Star at the end of December that they have already acquired the land and the distribution of money for the land would be completed soon.
He said the government has obtained the land, including that of BGMEA, and the BGMEA building can be demolished easily if the next government wants.
An official of Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha (Rajuk) told The Daily Star on Saturday that it would take about 10 to 15 days more to get an estimate of the acquired land from the DC office. Then the DC office will start the process of distributing money.
“It was possible to complete the work of the road-embankment by December last year if we had got the land six months back,” said Prof Mujibur.
A total of 299.24 acres of land have been acquired of which about 219 acres have been acquired newly while the rest of the land belongs to different government organisations.
Of the newly acquired land, 139 acres are under private ownership while 10 acres are khas land and about 69 acres are the land of Courts of Awards.
Four bridges connecting both sides of the road-embankment will be constructed at three points near Tongi diversion road, in the middle of the road-embankment (twin bridge) and near Rampura Road, said Prof Mujibur.
All lanes and by-lanes of the areas will be connected with the planned peripheral road, which will reduce congestion, he said.
However, excavation work is going on in full swing on about 250 acres of land and it will be possible to complete about 70 percent of the work by May 2009, said Mujibur.
The construction of a waste treatment plant has not been started yet at Dasher Kandi as development project proposal (DPP) of about Tk 500 crore has been waiting at the planning commission for approval, sources said.
An official of WASA said pipes will be set up on one side of the roads from where sewerage and industrial wastes will go to the treatment plant to be built at Dasher Kandi according to the plan.
If WASA cannot start work of the treatment plant as soon as possible, the waste will go downstream and it will pollute the neighbouring environment, said another Rajuk official.
Rajuk has already demolished most of the illegal structures but around 80 structures are still out of the drive on the western side of Rampura bridge and South Begunbari due to legal battles, said the Rajuk official.
Speaking about BGMEA Bhaban, Prof Mujibur said the BGMEA building has been constructed in the middle of the Begunbari canal and it significantly obstructs the flow of storm water. “The building will also reduce the capacity of water retention of the canal,” he said.
The government will take the decision whether the building will be demolished or not, he said.
The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council approved the Tk 1473.58 crore development project for Begunbari-Hatirjheel on October 8, 2007. The project is scheduled to be completed by June 2010.
Courtesy: thedailystar.net
