Slum residents to get modern home in Dhaka

Slum residents in Dhaka are going to have the opportunity to leave their deplorable living conditions behind and move to modern urban facilities, as the government plans to hand over flats in five newly constructed complexes to 533 families.

The flats include all the facilities of a modern urban residence, like lifts, generators, solar power, wide walkways, power substations, open spaces and beautification lighting. 

Each flat has a drawing room, a kitchen and separate bathrooms.

A front view of the newly constructed apartment complex for the slum dwellers in Mirpur, Dhaka, Sunday, August 1, 2021 Syed Zakir Hossain/Dhaka Tribune

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is set to distribute 533 modern flats among slum residents during a virtual event on Tuesday.

The government took the initiative to construct houses for slum dwellers in line with its goal to ensure housing for everyone in Bangladesh.

The Ministry of Housing and Public Works transformed a slum into a standard housing area by constructing five 14-storey buildings at Mirpur Section 11, with a budget of Tk149 crore.

"Slum residents are a low-income group who live in cramped and unhealthy slum houses. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina took the initiative to give them a better, modern and safe urban life,” said Shahid Ullah Khandaker, secretary of housing and public works.

This is the first phase of relocating slum residents to proper housing. 

“The listed people who lived at Bauniya slum in Mirpur will get an apartment on a priority basis. Low-income groups from other slums can also apply depending on vacancy,” he told Dhaka Tribune.

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“They should pay rent for living in the flats as they will get a better and healthier life. The rent will be almost similar to what they had to pay for staying in the slum,” he added.

“They will be allowed to pay on a daily, weekly and monthly basis as many of them are daily earners. The daily rent is set at Tk150 ,while the monthly rent will be Tk4,500 for each flat,” he added.

Earlier, the slum owners would charge a monthly amount of Tk5,000-7,000 per house to live in the slum, the locals said.

According to the Ministry of Housing and Public Works, The apartment complexes in Mirpur 11 is the first modern housing project for low-income people in Dhaka since the country’s independence.

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Officials from the ministry said the government planned to gradually build 16,000 more flats for slum residents. 

In the second phase of the initiative, the ministry aims to build 1,000 more flats at the same location.

The government is also implementing other housing projects at three municipalities and city corporations – Comilla, Sirajganj, and Narayanganj – to address the housing crisis of the displaced people.

The authorities plan to construct 5,600 housing units under the project funded by the World Bank, said officials.

Apart from housing projects for slum residents, the prime minister will also inaugurate 2,416 flats constructed for government employees posted in Dhaka.