Road construction around Hatirjheel

Dhaka: The government on Thursday started construction of roads around Hatirjheel under a coordinated development project of Hatirjheel and Begunbari.

‘We have started road construction under the project. The chief adviser will lay the foundation stone of the project soon,’ said the LGRD and cooperatives adviser Anwarul Iqbal at a briefing at Hatirjheel on Thursday.

The Local Government Engineering Department and the Armed Forces Division are now doing the job. Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha LGED, Water Supply and Sewerage Authority and Armed Forces Division will implement the Tk 1,473.59 crore project.
About 245 acres of land will be acquired for the project. The LGED will spend Tk 175 crore on its portion, Rajuk Tk 1,218.69 crore and WASA Tk 77.98 crore. Tk 1.92 crore will be spent on the study to be conducted by the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology.
Anwarul said the government had cancelled the land allotment for the Millennium Holdings Limited. Land allotment of other structures that can hamper the project will also be cancelled.

‘The BGMEA has so far failed to produce any approval for its building. I think it should not stand there for the sake of the lake,’ he said.
‘We have already stopped the construction work of the Sonargaon Hotel. We will ask it to demolish the portion that will hamper the project,’ he said.
Anwarul also said only 11 buildings, five on pieces of land privately owned and six on government land, would need to be demolished for the project. Rajuk initially decided to demolish 400 structures.
The project, which started in July 2007, will be completed by June 2010.

The project will be funded by the Japan debt cancellation fund and government fund. The government has already allocated Tk 50 crore in the annual development programme for the project this financial year.

Professor Murjibur Rahman who led the BUET group for the study on the project said the primary objectives of the project are to protect required area for storm water retention, minimise the inundation risk for adjoining areas and reduce related environmental hazards, to restore the Hatirjheel environment by transforming the waste water canal into freshwater lake with the installation of large-diameter diversion sewers along the periphery and to connect an east-west missing link between the Tongi Diversion Road and Pragati Sarani with the construction of a peripheral system.

He made some recommendations such as rehabilitation of slum dwellers now living in the project area, compensation for the acquisition of pieces of land privately owned and conservation of adjoining water bodies or wetlands not within the project area.
Project director Haider Ali also spoke on the occasion.