New Ashrayan project houses more durable
Houses under the third phase of the Ashrayan-2 project are being made to be "stronger" and "long lasting".
As a gift from the prime minister, under the Ashrayan-2 project, 1 lakh 17 thousand 329 houses have already been provided to the landless and homeless in the first and second phases. In the third phase, 65,474 houses are set to be handed over.
Compared to the houses of the first two phases, the structure of these houses has undergone considerable changes. Budget and construction costs have also increased as a result.
Abu Saleh Mohammad Ferdous Khan, project director of the project, said the houses will be officially handed over within two months after the Eid-ul-Fitr.
Visiting the Srirampur Shelter Project in Magura yesterday, it was seen that single houses are being built on a strong foundation.
"We have been instructed to make our houses stronger," mason Abdullah Biswas told The Daily Star.
Meanwhile, taking experience from the previous two stages of the project work, changes have been made in the design to make the gift houses more sustainable. Special care is also being taken in land selection.
This comes after the government found several defects in houses of the first two phases. At the beginning of the monsoon, houses collapsed in some places, as walls broke down or landslides took place.
Due to these reasons, the construction cost of each house has also increased by Tk 69,000. In the third phase, Tk 259,500 has been allocated for each house.
In this regard, Abu Saleh Mohammad Ferdous Khan, project director, Asrayan-2 Project, said sturdier pillars and beams have been added to the design.
"We have engineers from different departments -- LGED, Public Works, Public Health Engineering. Heads of these three departments have given advice to make this design stronger. Engineers from all departments are involved in the implementation and monitoring of the execution in the field."
However, despite these additions, the cost is still lower than market rates, he said, mainly due to the waiver of VAT and tax for these houses."If VAT and tax were added, each house would cost Tk 3.30 lakh," he said.
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