8.8 lakh families to get homes by March 17

The government will build accommodations for 882,033 homeless families under three different projects across the country marking "Mujib Year" – the centennial birth anniversary of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

The Prime Minister's Office (PMO) has already made a list of the homeless people with the deputy commissioners (DCs), and the uniform design of the houses has been finalised.

From October, the government plans on starting to build the semi-pucca structures at a cost of Tk15,082 crore, and hand them over to the homeless.

Each home would be built on 0.02 acres (2 decimal) of land and each unit would have: two bedrooms, a toilet, a kitchen, a veranda, and some open space. The homeless would get these houses in every district and upazila of the country.    

Politicians, including local lawmakers or ministers, will not be involved in any phase of the housing project, including preparation of the beneficiary list, construction and supervision.

These houses will be constructed under the PMO's Ashrayan Project, the Ministry of Local Government's Cluster Village Programme and the Ministry of Disaster Management and Relief's Housing Project in Disaster-Prone Areas. 

Respective local administrations, led by their DCs, will build and supervise the construction while the PMO will oversee the construction centrally. The PMO, on Monday, sent the list of the project beneficiaries to the Ministry of Disaster Management and Relief and Ministry of Local Government.

State Minister for Disaster Management and Relief Dr Md Enamur Rahman said Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman wanted to ensure the fundamental rights of the people. To fulfil the dream of Bangabandhu, the premier has been stressing the importance of identifying all the homeless in the country and building houses for them.

"The dream of Bangabandhu is going to be fulfilled in Mujib Year with the accommodation of 882,033 of the country's homeless people," Dr Enamur told The Business Standard.

He said though the houses will be built under three different projects, the design of the establishments will be the same.  

"The prime minister herself will supervise the construction. There is no scope for irregularities or corruption," he further said.

The state minister added that the government has set a target of March 17 next year by when the construction must be completed. However, the work will continue until the construction is complete.

Meanwhile, Joint Secretary to the Finance Ministry Shirajun Noor Chowdhury said they are preparing to free up funds for the construction.

At several times, the prime minister has stressed the importance of building houses for the homeless while celebrating Mujib Year. At a discussion on March 7, she said, "Assume that this is my only demand to you. Work for the people up to your capacity. Identify the homeless. If you cannot build houses for them, I will do it. Even then, I will not allow a single person to remain homeless."

According to the PMO, 292,283 landless people will be provided with housing facilities on government land. The DCs have already been instructed to identify government-owned fallow land for the construction.

Further, the government plans on building homes for 589,750 families who have land but no houses. The construction of each home will cost Tk1.71 lakh.

Government officials said the premier, in 2014, directed them to create a database of landless and homeless people as well as people who have land but no home for rehabilitation. In that directive, she told the DCs to prepare the list and send it to her through the land ministry.   

According to the data sent to the land ministry by the DCs, the number of such marginalised people amounted to 14.63 lakh. The list was then sent to the PMO.