65,474 more homeless
families to get shelters

Savar Correspondent: As part of the government’s target toensure housing for the landless and homeless people, 65,474 more singlehouses are being constructed under third phase of Ashrayan-2 Project.
At the third phase of Ashrayan-2, the government has raised the cost andbrought changes in design to make houses more sustainable and climate-resilient.
Now the landless and homeless people will get better quality abodes alongwith two decimals of land.
The cost against each house has been increased to Tk 259,500 from Tk 1,91,000 to make the houses more durable and spectacular, Senior Secretary ofPrime Minister’s Office (PMO) Md Tofazzel Hossain Miah told reporters onTuesday at PMO.
Besides, portable houses are given to homeless families staying in Char landsso that they can move their abode during soil erosion, he said.
At a press briefing at Gohailbari Ashrayan in Shimulia union under Savarupazilayesterday — before which two groups of journalists under the arrangementof 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 theoccasion of the ‘Mujib Barsho’, the government is constructing 65,474 moresingle houses for homeless and landless families under third phase ofAshrayan-2.
He said the government is constructing the houses having strong great-beam,lintel and Reinforced concrete column (RCC) pillar for making the houses moresustainable.
A total of 1,17,329 single houses were constructed under first and secondphases of the
project while 1,82,803 houses have been allotted till thecurrent fiscal year of 2021-2022, he added.
He said, adding Tk 3,971 crore 6 lakh 83 thousand was allocated forconstruction of single houses till current fiscal year.

Some 1042 specially designed houses have been allotted for char region underthe third phase. Special design has been made so that the houses can beshifted to other places in view of any natural disaster like cyclone orflood.

Apart from khas land, he said, the government has purchased 155 acres of landfor rehabilitating homeless and landless people. Purchasing lands bygovernment is a unique example in the world. Tk 108 crore 91 lakh 20thousand has been allocated for purchasing lands, he added.

He mentioned that a total of 6891 landless and homeless families will berehabilitated on the houses to be built at purchased lands.

The government recovered 5512.04 acres of khas land from illegal occupationacross the country for constructing houses for the project on the occasion ofMujib Barsho, he added.

He said the approximate market price of the recovered khas land is Tk 2967crore 9 lakh.

Under the Ashrayan project, a total of 7,08,003 families have beenrehabilitated till current fiscal year since 1997. The number ofrehabilitated people is 35,40,015 (estimated as five persons in a family).

According to project details, the unique feature of the Ashrayan Projectperceived by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is that there is a specialconnection of housing activities with the United Nations SustainableDevelopment Goals (SDGs).

Building houses alone can have major footprints in the attainment of varioussustainable development goals.

Housing is related to positive changes in the areas of education, health,security, empowerment, women’s empowerment as well as inclusive development.