Chief Advisor Yunus hands over 300 houses to flood victims

The Bangladesh Army has completed the construction of the houses

Chief Advisor Muhammad Yunus has handed over 300 houses built under a special housing project for the victims of last year's floods.

Joining virtually from the Chief Advisor's Office on Wednesday morning, he distributed the houses to those affected by the floods in several districts of southeast Bangladesh in August-September last year, according to a press release issued by the office.

According to the release, the flood in 2024 made many people homeless. The most affected districts are Feni, Noakhali, Cumilla and Chattogram.

Many houses have been damaged completely or partially. The government directed authorities to rebuild the houses of such 300 families whose houses had been completely destroyed or those who did not have the ability to build a house.

The beneficiaries were selected based on the occupation of the affected family head, income, financial inability to build a house, plight, type of house damaged and local priorities.

The beneficiaries’ priority list was prepared through a joint survey by a committee consisting of representatives of the Armed Forces Division (AFD) and the Ministry of Disaster Management and Relief, headed by the deputy commissioner and one or more other representatives nominated by the district administrator.

Out of the 300 houses, 110 were allotted in Feni, 90 in Noakhali, 70 in Cumilla and 30 in Chattogram.

Two designs were prepared in collaboration with the Local Government Engineering Department and the AFD to make the houses disaster-resilient and sustainable.

Both designs offer two bedrooms, a common space, a bathroom and a kitchen alongside a balcony. The size of the houses in the first design is 492 sq feet and the estimated cost is Tk 725,694 each while the size of the second design houses is 500 sq feet and the estimated amount is Tk 726,678.

The houses have been constructed according to a design where applicable for a single beneficiary in accordance with the location of their own residence.

An initial amount of Tk 500 million had been allocated from the chief advisor's relief fund for the construction of the houses. About Tk 249.8 million was spent on the construction completed by the Bangladesh Army.

The chief advisor said, "Congratulations to everyone who received the houses. Always keep the courage with which the country's people stood by you in mind.”

He extended his thanks to all those involved in the implementation of the project.

Thanking the army for completing the project on time, he said: "This is a small project but the example we set in working through it will inspire us.”

Speaking on the occasion, army chief Gen Waker-Uz-Zaman said the force will always be ready to perform such duties if they are assigned to them in the future.

He said 298 houses have already been constructed under the project. Two houses could not be built due to land-related complications, but will be built soon.

Four beneficiaries from Feni, Noakhali, Chattogram and Cumilla joined the event virtually and spoke about their feelings upon receiving the houses.