DHAKA, Mar 14, 2018 (BSS) – Housing and Public Works Minister Engineer Mosharraf Hossain today said the government has taken necessary initiatives for protecting the country’s agricultural land.
“Many people are constructing their houses on arable land…even people are setting up industries on agricultural land. If the situation continues, the country will face food crisis in the future,” he said while unveiling a publication on ‘Standard Guideline for Rural Housing in Disaster-Prone Areas of Bangladesh’ at CIRDAP auditorium in the capital.
To this end, the Housing Minister said, the government has set a target to stop topsoil use of agricultural land in conventional brick manufacturing by 2020 as per the seventh-five year plan.
“The government is formulating a draft law on urban and regional plan to stop housing construction and establishment of industries on the agricultural land.” he said.
Mosharraf said the Housing and Building Research Institute (HBRI) is now manufacturing block mixing with sand and silt as an alternative of brick and its use should be increased, he added.
He suggested construction of multi-storey buildings on the ancestral land aiming to accommodate more families.
The government has also taken a plan to construct 10,000 flats for the slum dwellers, said the minister, adding that the construction work of 550 flats continues. The slum dwellers will get an opportunity to live in those flats with lower rent, he said.
Chaired by director of the Disaster Management Department Khalid Mahmud, the function was also addressed, among others, by Housing and Building Research Institute director Abu Sadeque and its partner organisation official Quazi Emadul Haq.