Bonikbarta Exclusive

The country’s first high-speed road, Dhaka Elevated Expressway is being constructed between the Airport-Moghbazar-Jatrabari. Bangladesh Bridge Authority, the project implementing agency, has constructed 1344 flats in Dhaka’s Uttara residential area to rehabilitate people who have lost their land due to the construction of this 20 km long flyover.

In line with the flat allotment policy of the project, people who are truly affected by the Dhaka Elevated Expressway project can apply for a flat allotment. But, after the completion of the flats, the authority has decided to revise this policy. In the revised policy, Bangladesh Bridge Authority and their officials will be eligible for allotment of the flats. In Section 2, Paragraph 1 of the policy said that in the Rehabilitation Village of Dhaka Elevated Expressway Project, only those affected by land acquisition for the Dhaka Elevated Expressway Project can apply for allotment of flats.

In the proposed amendment, people affected by land acquisition for the Dhaka Elevated Expressway project can apply for allotment of flats. Later, according to the priority and the availability, Bangladesh Bridge Authority officials-employees can apply for the remaining flats that can be allotted through open notice. The Bridge authorities and Bridge Department officials will be eligible to get the flats if the proposed amendment is approved.

Dr. Iftekharuzzaman, Executive Director of Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) mentioned the initiative to amend the flat allotment policy as a 'violation of policy' and said to Bonik Barta, "Such incidents are disappointing. But I do not see anything surprising about it. Government officials-employees are already enjoying a lot of opportunities. But these flats made for the affected people should only be allocated to those who are affected by such project.”

“This policy has not been finalized and further review is ongoing,” Md Manjur Hossain, Secretary of the Government's Bridge Department and Executive Director of Bangladesh Bridge Authority said to Bonik Barta.

He said that no decision has been taken so far regarding giving flats to government officials in the last 114th board meeting of the Bridge Authority on June 25.

“Flats are being allocated to the victims of other projects as part of new initiatives. This change is not only based on the number of people affected by the elevated expressway project but also on the opportunity to provide flats to victims of other projects.”

These flats have been constructed at Barkakar, Baunia, and Digun Mouja adjacent to Uttara Model Town. A ‘Rehabilitation Village’ has been built to fulfill this purpose.

The constructed 1344 flats are divided into two blocks in 12 buildings where each building has 14 floors. Flats of Block A have an area of 1,294 square feet. The price of each flat including parking facilities has been fixed at BDT 5.414 million. Excluding parking facilities, the flats will cost BDT 5.114 million. The flats constructed in Block B have an area of ​​1,090 square feet. The price of each flat including parking facilities has been fixed at BDT 4.344 million. The fixed price of the flats without parking facilities is BDT 4.044 Million.

According to the information of the Bridge authority, in the Rehabilitation Village of the Dhaka Elevated Expressway project, various infrastructural constructions including schools, mosques, community centers, community markets, community clinics, playgrounds, sewage treatment plants, secondary transfer stations, electrical sub-stations, internal roads, drains, deep tube wells have been constructed. In total, the construction cost of the Rehabilitation Village is about 8 billion . These flats have been created through a separate project called ‘Support to Dhaka Elevated Expressway’.

The Bridge Authority has received 261 applications till now for the allocation of 1,344 flats. In response, efforts are being made to assign the remaining flats to individuals affected by different projects, including officials and employees of the Bridge Department and Bangladesh Bridge Authority.

Dr. Shamsul Hoque, Professor of the Civil Engineering Department of BUET who also worked as a consultant on the project said to Bonik Barta that, there are not many people affected by the project and small amount of private property has been acquired by the government. But he added, before building flats proper assessment was needed.

According to the information of Bangladesh Bridge Authority, the Dhaka Elevated Expressway project required 205.86 acres of land, with 176.84 acres being government-owned, mainly by Bangladesh Railways, and 29.02 acres privately owned.

Badiul Alam Majumder, Secretary of Citizens for Good Governance- SHUJAN,  a non-partisan citizen’s platform thinks that the initiative to allocate the flats to the Bridge Authority and Bridge Department officials has created a ‘Conflict of Interest’ for the two institutions. In this regard, he told Bonik Barta, ‘This policy has been made under the Bridge Department. They have an important role in the project. And the changes they are making in the policy are only for their own benefit. This is not acceptable in any way. It is corruption to misuse these rules and procedures to serve their own interests. Action should be taken against those who are involved in the initiative to change the policy.”