The government purchased land in Berlin in 2017 at a cost of Tk. 76 crore to construct the embassy’s chancery complex.
The agreement of the land purchase stipulates that once construction begins, it has to be completed within 36 months and, failing to do so, the Bangladesh government will have to pay a fine of one million Euro for the first extra day of work and three thousand Euros for the following additional days.
If the Bangladesh government does not use the building within 12 months of completion, they will have to return the land to the owner.
Faced with such conditions, immediate initiative has been taken to construct the building. In this regard, an inter-ministerial team, comprising members from the planning commission, works department, finance and foreign ministry went to Germany in 2017. The expected expenditure will be Tk. 109 crore 47 lakh, which will be provided totally by the government with the project ending by 30 June, 2021.
Bangladesh has 74 embassies and missions overseas; initially, the missions were housed in rented property. At a meeting of ECNEC, held on 15 September, 2015, the prime minister ordered the implementation of an elaborate plan to identify countries where chancery complex is required, followed by land acquisition and construction.
After assessment, a priority list has been made.
Sources say that under the project in berlin, the chancery building will be 185 square metres and the ambassador’s residence 870 square metres.
Planning minister, A H M Mustafa Kamal, told Bangla Tribune: “the project has been approved by ECNEC and once Bangladesh has chancery on own land, her image will be bolstered among the international fraternity.