Build homes for freedom fighters on government land: Hasina – bdnews24.com

She gave the instructions while presiding over an ECNEC meeting to approve a housing project for freedom fighters via video call from Ganabhaban on Tuesday.

Houses will be built across the country under the Tk 41.23 billion project, titled 'Bir Nibas', as a gift from the prime minister to indigent freedom fighters as the country marks Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman's birth centenary and the golden jubilee of its independence.

Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Mamun-al-Rashid, a member of the Planning Commission's physical infrastructure division, said, "While approving the project for the destitute freedom fighters, weve found that there aren't many freedom fighters who don't own land.

"The honourable prime minister said that if any freedom fighter is found without a homestead, then the relevant DC or UNO should allocate government-owned Khas land for that freedom fighter and build an accommodation.

"Even though the financing for project is slated to start from the next financial year, in order to ensure that there isn't a fund crunch, it is necessary to start the work from the current financial year so that the money can be released across four fiscal years."

The implementation of this project will also increase the disbursement of funds to the rural economy, according to Hasina.

During the meeting, Hasina also directed the authorities to extend the timeline of the project by three months to October 2023, said Mamun.

The project will replace a previous programme to build flats in multi-storey buildings for the freedom fighters, according to him.

The old project, approved in March 2018, was halted in 2019 after the freedom fighters and their families objected to the plan to move to flats leaving their ancestral land, Rashid said.

The previous programme aimed to construct 8,000 flats in 532 buildings across the country at the cost of Tk 22.73 billion.

Later, the ministry reformed the Detailed Project Plan or DPP of the proposed project with a target to complete it by 2023.

The estimated cost for each of the house is Tk 1.3 million.

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Build homes for freedom fighters on government land: Hasina - bdnews24.com