Rajuk to allot 1,250 plots in Jhilmil project

Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha (Rajuk) is set to invite applications for a third time for allotting around 1,250 plots in its Jhilmil Residential Area project in Keraniganj within a few days.
Rajuk Chairman Nurul Huda said the Ministry of Housing and Public Works (MHPW) has already approved new guidelines for allotting the three and five katha plots.
Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (Buet) will conduct a lottery for allotting the plots, he added.
Rajuk will also construct around 10,000 flats in the area and a Development Project Proposal has already been sent to MHPW for approval, stated Huda adding, they will go for tender after getting the nod.
Sources in Rajuk said the town planner took the initiative in 1997 for developing the housing project adjacent to Dhaka-Mawa Highway at Suvadda, Chunkatia and Tegharia moujas of Keraniganj to solve the housing problem of the residents of Dhaka.
The authorities will fix the amount of deposit money to be paid by the applicants within a few days, noted a Rajuk official.
The deposit amount was set at Tk 1 lakh for a three katha and Tk 2 lakh for a five katha plot when Rajuk invited application for the first time in 1997.
Of the project's around 1,635 plots, the town planner will consider 385 more applicants who applied earlier and became eligible, added the official.
According to the new guidelines, people in 15 categories will be eligible to apply for plots.
The categories are freedom fighters, journalists, government employees, officials and employees of autonomous bodies, officials and employees of armed forces, businessmen and industrialists, private job holders, private teachers, arts, literary and sports personalities, remittance earners, lawyers, agriculturists, engineers, and doctors.
Ministers, state ministers, speaker, deputy speaker, lawmakers and judges will qualify directly if they apply.
Among the project's affected people, each landowner with more than 10 katha of land will get a plot while the others will get flats, mentioned the Rajuk official.
As per the project schedule, Rajuk was supposed to complete the project by 2001. The authorities earlier invited applications twice to allot plots but failed to draw adequate response.
Jhilmil project director Sheikh Jahid Hasan Faruqui said they have already completed 90 percent of land-filling and 45 percent of overall works so far.
He hoped to finish the project and hand over plots within the next three years if everything goes smoothly.