Karwan Bazar: Wholesale market relocation starts this month
The relocation of Karwan Bazar, the largest wholesale market hub in the capital, is likely to start by the end of this month.
Dhaka North City Corporation is taking all necessarry measures to initiate the process of shifting the market to two designated locations -- Amin Bazar and Jatrabari. The government is determined to relocate the market at any cost, labelling the current location as risky.
Currently, the city corporation owns four markets at Karwan Bazar, sprawled across approximately 24 bighas of land, comprising 1,789 permanent shops and 180 temporary ones.
Initially, DNCC proposed relocating the market solely to Amin Bazar in Savar, citing the presence of infrastructure tailored for this purpose there.
However, businessmen and traders of Karwan Bazar market demanded that their market be transferred to Jatrabari as well.
Earlier, businessmen applied to DNCC and Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan, expressing their unwillingness to move to Amin Bazar.
They voiced apprehensions about the potential dip in business at Amin Bazar compared to Karwan Bazar. Their pleas included the proposal to relocate to an alternative location -- Jatrabari, said DNCC sources.
On April 8, Mayor Atiqul Islam led a DNCC delegation to a meeting with the home minister where they discussed the issue of compensation for the businessmen who wanted to move to the Jatrabari Market.
According to the meeting sources, the home minister gave a positive response to the businessmen's demand.
Mutakabbir Ahmed, regional executive officer of DNCC's Zone-5, said, "There is no doubt that Karwan Bazar market will be relocated. The process will start very soon."
"Many businessmen were unwilling to go to Amin Bazaar and submitted a proposal to relocate to a market in Jatrabari, which is under the jurisdiction of the local government division. We will facilitate the transfer to both of these locations," he told The Daily Star.
In the initial phase, a total of 256 shops are slated for relocation from Karwan Bazar, with 180 earmarked for Amin Bazar and the remaining 176 for Jatrabari, said Mutakabbir, who will oversee the relocation.
However, Lokman Hossain, secretary of Karwan Kitchen Market Businessmen's Association, said they have not received any official letter or directive regarding the relocation process yet.
He declined to make any further comment on this matter.
On the other hand, DNCC started the process of relocating its regional office from Karwan Bazar to Mohammadpur Community Center on March 28, due to its risky infrastructure.
In 2006, the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec) approved a Tk 206 crore project to construct three markets in Mohakhali, Amin Bazar, and Jatrabari, intending to modernise markets and supply systems for farm products and reduce traffic congestion in the Karwan Bazar area.
However, the work on the project remained suspended until 2013, when the Local Government Engineering Department (LGED) and DNCC revised the total budget of the project to Tk 264 crore.