United News of Bangladesh

The government has planned to construct 101 parks across the country to address the acute shortage of parks, playgrounds and open spaces. Housing and Public Works Minister Zakaria Taher disclosed the information in Parliament on Tuesday while replying to a scripted question from opposition bench lawmaker Nurul Islam (Chapainawabganj-3). “The Housing and Public Works Ministry has planned to build 101 parks across the country to address the acute shortage of parks, playgrounds, and open spaces,” he said. In response, the minister said data collection is currently underway to implement the plan. He said the Development Project Proposals (DPP) are awaiting approval for the several projects to construct Park at Anwara Udyan at Farmgate, Dhaka, develop playgrounds in three places- Rampura, Khilgaon High School and Khilgaon Rehabilitation Area, and construct Khilgaon community centre including Eidgaon and park. Highlighting recent progress, Zakaria Taher said the construction of two parks in Chattogram and two in Cox's Bazar, the modernisation of Ramna Park in Dhaka, have already been completed and the facilities have been handed over for public use. He added that construction of another park is currently underway in Tarakanda of Mymensingh district. The minister said the government is giving top priority to environmental protection in all development activities to promote planned urbanisation. He said special emphasis is being given on the construction of multistorey buildings to ensure optimum land use through proper planning and research. The government is also encouraging the use of advanced construction technologies, environmentally friendly building materials, energy-efficient systems, rainwater harvesting, dedicated sewage treatment plants and adequate green spaces in urban development projects, he added. The parliamentary session resumed at around 3pm with Deputy Speaker Kayser Kamal in the chair.

There are more than 6,000 abandoned houses in Dhaka city, said Housing and Public Works Minister RAM Obaidul Muktadir Chowdhury in Parliament on Wednesday. “There are 6,372 abandoned houses in the capital city,” he said, replying to a question from independent lawmaker Muhammad Saiful Islam (Dhaka-19). According to data placed by the Minister in the House, the highest 3,582 abandoned houses are in Mirpur, while 1,542 ones in Mohammadpur. New executive committee of BSFA pays homage to Bangabandhu Other abandoned houses include 128 ones are in Gulshan, 9 in Banani, 62 in Moghbazar, 36 in Tejgaon, 19 in Nakhalpara, 26 in Cantonment, 38 in Basabo, 10 in Shahjahanpur, 12 in Khilgaon, 2 in Jurain, 72 in Motijheel, 158 in Ramna, 320 in Sutrapur, 174 in Lalbagh, 46 in Kotwali, 88 in Dhanmondi, 25 in Lalmatia, 4 in Jatrabari and 1 in Maniknagar. Among the abandoned houses, 20 ones are now being used as educational institutes and 4 ones as construction firms. Media houses can’t sack journalists with short notice: Arafat The Minister said the reserved abandoned houses are being used for the construction of residential flats for officers/employees and the flats are being allocated to the officers/employees on rental basis. The saleable abandoned houses are being sold to various individuals, institutions, the family of martyr freedom fighters, war wounded freedom fighters and allottees with the permission of the Prime Minister. All but AL want to end capacity payments in power sector: CPD In the last three financial years, some Tk 12.68 crore were reaslised as rents from the abandoned houses in Dhaka city, while some Tk 2.31 crore was collected as the sale values. At the beginning of the day’s business, Speaker Dr Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury, who was chairing the House, tabled the question-answer session for Wednesday.