184 Flats for Government Staff at Jigatola for Tk 200 Crore; Ecnec Approves 13 Projects Worth Tk 58,088 Crore

The government will build three more multi-storey residential buildings for government officials and employees at Jigatola in Dhanmondi, Dhaka, at a cost of 200 crore taka. The 13-storey buildings will hold a total of 184 flats, each measuring 850 square feet. The project has been taken up to provide housing for government employees of grades 10 to 12.

The project, titled 'Ensuring improved and quality housing for government officials and employees', was approved on Wednesday at a meeting of the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec). Prime Minister Tarique Rahman chaired the Ecnec meeting, held at the Secretariat.

A total of 13 projects were approved at the meeting, with a combined cost set at 58,088 crore taka. Of that, the government's own financing is 50,041 crore taka, project loans 7,974 crore taka and agencies' own financing 73 crore taka. The approved projects include 11 new ones and two revised ones.

According to the Planning Commission's project proposal, the Public Works Department will implement the housing construction project from October 2026 to September 2029. The government will provide the money for the buildings.

About 2.44 acres of land at Jigatola has been earmarked for the project. The proposal says buildings 1, 2, 3 and 4 of the Jigatola government colony will be demolished to make way for the three new multi-storey buildings. The building condemnation committee has approved removal of the four old buildings.

Several residential buildings for government officials were also built under the previous government. They included five multi-storey buildings in the sawmill area of Mirpur Section 6 in the capital and six buildings in the Shialbari area; each of those 11 buildings is 14 storeys. A further 15 multi-storey buildings were built in Noakhali and Narayanganj.

Asked about the project, Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) executive director Iftekharuzzaman told Prothom Alo that there is a housing crisis and shortage. But if buildings are not used or not properly allocated, the reasons need to be found, he said. The problem of why buildings are built and then lie empty needs to be solved first; only then should new projects be taken up, he said.