As part of the government's target to ensure housing for the landless and homeless people, 65,474 more single houses are being constructed under the third phase of Ashrayan-2 Project.
At the third phase of Ashrayan-2, the government has raised the cost and brought changes in design to make houses more sustainable and climate-resilient.
Now the landless and homeless people will get better quality abodes along with two decimals of land.
The cost against each house has been increased to Taka 259,500 from Taka 1,91,000 to make the houses more durable and spectacular, Senior Secretary of Prime Minister's Office (PMO) Md Tofazzel Hossain Miah told reporters on Tuesday at PMO.
Besides, portable houses are given to homeless families staying in Char lands so that they can move their abode during soil erosion, he said.
At a press briefing at Gohailbari Ashrayan in Shimulia union under Savar upazila today -- before which two groups of journalists under the arrangement of PMO went on a three-day field visit to Ashrayan Project in countryside -- Project Director of Ashrayan-2 Abu Saleh Mohammad Ferdous Khan said on the occasion of the 'Mujib Barsho', the government is constructing 65,474 more single houses for homeless and landless families under third phase of Ashrayan-2.
He said the government is constructing the houses having strong great-beam, lintel and Reinforced concrete column (RCC) pillar for making the houses more sustainable.
A total of 1,17,329 single houses were constructed under first and second phases of the project while 1,82,803 houses have been allotted till the current fiscal year of 2021-2022, he added.
He said, adding Taka 3,971 crore 6 lakh 83 thousand was allocated for construction of single houses till current fiscal year.
Some 1042 specially designed houses have been allotted for char region under the third phase. Special design has been made so that the houses can be shifted to other places in view of any natural disaster like cyclone or flood.
Apart from khas land, he said, the government has purchased 155 acres of land for rehabilitating homeless and landless people. Purchasing lands by government is a unique example in the world. Taka 108 crore 91 lakh 20 thousand has been allocated for purchasing lands, he added.
He mentioned that a total of 6891 landless and homeless families will be rehabilitated on the houses to be built at purchased lands.
The government recovered 5512.04 acres of khas land from illegal occupation across the country for constructing houses for the project on the occasion of Mujib Barsho, he added.
He said the approximate market price of the recovered khas land is Taka 2967 crore 9 lakh.
Under the Ashrayan project, a total of 7,08,003 families have been rehabilitated till current fiscal year since 1997. The number of rehabilitated people is 35,40,015 (estimated as five persons in a family).
According to project details, the unique feature of the Ashrayan Project perceived by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is that there is a special connection of housing activities with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Building houses alone can have major footprints in the attainment of various sustainable development goals.
Housing is related to positive changes in the areas of education, health, security, empowerment, women's empowerment as well as inclusive development.
Source: BSS