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Uttara Model Town 3rd phase

22 years on, project yet to be completed


Published : 23 Aug 2021 09:25 PM | Updated : 24 Aug 2021 12:26 AM

Uttara Model Town's (Phase III) project has not been completed in 22 years. The implementation of the project is stuck in the lake complexity. The period of the project completion is likely to be extended for tenth time.

The current progress of the project is 92 percent. The authorities concerned said it is necessary to extend the period for one more year to complete the 100 percent work of the project.

This information was unveiled at the recent meeting of the Project Steering Committee. Shahid Ullah Khandaker, Secretary of the Ministry of Housing and Public Works, chaired the meeting to review the implementation of the project.

Earlier, the project implementation period was extended several times but the project could not be completed in due time.

The project director Abdul Awal said that it was not possible to carry out the excavation work of the lake in the project area due to the complexity with Dhaka WASA at Lake Number 1 and 4. 

“Moreover, it will not be possible to complete the work of the project within the scheduled time unless the intimacy expenditure is adjusted between the approved expenditure of the various components of the project,” he added.

Sources said that the project was undertaken by the Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha (RAJUK) at a total cost of Tk 2,044.81 crore. 

ECNEC (Executive Committee of the National Economic Council) approved the implementation from July 1999 to June 2002. 

The project was then revised twice. According to the Second Revised Development Project Proposal (DPP), the estimated cost of the project was increased to Tk 2,317.38 crore.

At that time the implementation period was from July 1999 to June 2018. However, the project was not completed in 2018. 

Earlier, the duration of the project was extended in 9 phases at different times. 

However, in the second revision, the term was extended but the expenditure limit was not increased.

The project was last extended till June this year. But, the work of Uttara Model Town's (Phase III) project could not be completed by this tenure.

Under such circumstances, RAJUK authorities urged the Planning Commission to extend the duration of the project one more time till June 2022 without increasing the cost for the tenth time.

A total of Tk 1,938.53 crore has been spent for the project so far. 

After detailed discussions in the recent meeting, the commission directed the project authorities to take initiative to settle the dispute with Dhaka WASA and Dhaka North City Corporation as soon as possible regarding the demarcation of Lake Number 1 and 4 in the project area. 

Everyone at the meeting agreed to send a proposal to the Ministry of Housing and Public Works for another extension for the project completion.