City development authority asks for more time to complete Hatirjheel project

Despite several extensions the Hatirjheel Development Project will not be completed on schedule.

The city development authority, RAJUK has asked for another year to complete the project which had been scheduled for completion this December.

Officials cited hindrances such as the acquisition of land for a road intersection, a revised version of the water treatment facility and several other items, which would consume time and prevent the project from its scheduled completion.

However the budget of the project will not be increased, said RAJUK.

A proposal to extend the completion date to December 2017 has already been sent to the public works ministry, said project manager Md Jalal Akhtar Bhuiyan.

“We have sent our request for an extension to the ministry. They will forward it to the Planning Commission,” he said.

Housing and Public Works Minister Mosharraf Hossain said they have received the request.

“We are preparing to present it to the Planning Commission,” he told bdnews24.com. “Land acquisition and other similar matters took longer than we expected.”

Work could not begin on the Hatirjheel-Tejgaon intersection near the Tejgaon Boubazar because the land had not been acquired, said project manager Jalal Akhtar.

At this point the north U-loop near Merul Badda was about 25 percent complete, he said.

Construction of an office building for the Hatiirjheel management near the residential district was also incomplete, he said.

“Initially, a three-storey building was planned, but it was later redesigned to a 10-storey one.”

The top two floors will house a convention centre and the Hatirjheel management's office while the rest will be used for parking.

Work on separating the sewage and storm drain pipes for the water treatment facility is also incomplete.

“This was added after the fourth revision of the Hatirjheel project plans. The work will begin after the monsoon,” said Project Manager Major Kazi Shakil Hossain.

The Hatirjheel Development Project began in 2007, with an estimated cost of Tk 14.73 billion and was scheduled to be completed in June 2010.

After the first round of revision, the deadline was extended by a year and cost went up by Tk 80 million.

The second time the cost increased by another Tk 4.9 billion and the project was extended by a year and half.

The deadline was extended once again to June 2015 when the cost rose to Tk 22.36 billion.

In 2015, the project was extended for another one and half year and now the authorities say it would take the end of next year to complete it.