Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has said work is underway for the construction of flats for slum dwellers in Dhaka’s Mirpur.

“We do not want any people to live in slums. So we are now building flats for slum dwellers in Dhaka. Work for constructing 533 flats is underway in Mirpur, and we have a plan to build 16,000 more flats for them,” she said on Monday (Jul 15).

The premier was speaking at an event where she opened seven housing development projects, reports BSS.

“We inaugurated 1,671 flats with modern facilities under seven schemes for cabinet members, secretaries, other government officials and employees, as well as the affected people,” she said while opening the projects at Eskaton Garden Road in Dhaka.

Four of the seven projects have been completed by the Public Works Department, with three others being completed by the National Housing Authority and Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha (Rajuk) under the Housing and Public Works Ministry.

The prime minister said: “I hope the government officers and employees will now be even more efficient in discharging their duties.”

“We are set to build 6,350 flats under 16 projects of the Housing and Public Works Ministry, and there have been allocations for constructing 1,674 more flats under 13 other schemes,” she said.

Besides the work of constructing 398 flats in 20 abandoned houses in Gulshan, Dhanmondi and Mohammadpur areas in Dhaka, another 1,824 flats and 64 dormitories in 51 abandoned houses in Chittagong are underway, with initiatives having already been taken to build 317 flats by acquiring 15 more abandoned houses, she informed them.

“We have already built 1,512 flats for the Supreme Court judges, officers and employees of parliament secretariat, as well as other government officers and employees, and have distributed those to them,” she added.

Sheikh Hasina said her government has already taken initiative to construct 2,816 dormitories in 64 districts, to increase housing facilities for government officials and employees.

Mentioning that her government has been working for accommodations for all, she said: “We have already developed a total of 33,526 plots and built 8,922 flats to be sold to lower- and middle-income people. Of those, 6,636 flats under the third phase of Uttara apartment project have already been opened.”

The premier said development of 18,105 more flats and building of 8,039 flats are also underway, adding: “We have taken initiatives to develop 18,148 plots and 141,687 flats across the country.”

The housing problem of the citizens will be reduced significantly upon completion of the flats development works, she continued.

The prime minister later visited one of the three buildings constructed for grade one government officers on Eskaton Garden Road.

Housing and Public Works Minister SM Rezaul Karim and Secretary Md Shahid Ullah Khandaker also spoke on the occasion.

A video documentary on the seven projects was also screened at the function.