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Govt to relocate secretariat to trade fair site

Purbachal new fair venue

Rejaul Karim Byron
The government plans to shift the secretariat to the current location of International Trade Fairat Sher-e-Bangla Nagar.
The fair venue will be relocated to a permanent exhibition centre at Purbachal.
Planning Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal told reporters after an Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec) meeting yesterday the secretariat would be relocated to the vacant land of the trade fair venue.
The public works and housing ministry has already sent a Tk 2,300-crore project proposal to the Planning Commission to that end. The draft proposal has been discussed several times at the pre-Ecnec meeting.
A planning ministry high official said several concerns were discussed at the meetings.
One of the major concerns is if the new structure might damage the aesthetic appeal of the Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban, designed by world famous architect Louis 1 Kahn. Another concern is related to the security of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Gono Bhaban, the official residence of the premier.
Concerns were also raised about managing the huge traffic that would clog Sher-e-Bangla Nagar once the secretariat was shifted.
Earlier in 1997 during the previous Awami League rule, a similar initiative was taken but the plan did not go ahead due to the same concerns, the planningministryofficial added.
According to the draft proposal, the Secretariat Bhaban will be built on 32 acres of land with four blocks and each of the buildings will have nine storeys.
The draft sets tentative timeframe for completion of the construction by 2018. The planning ministry official said the project would soon be placed in the Ecnec meeting for approval.
The Ecnec yesterday also approved a Tk 796-crore project to set up the permanent exhibition centre on 20 acres of land at Purbachal Sector 4.
The exhibition centre, where various trade fairs can be held round the year, would be built by 2018 with 79 percent of its finance coming from Chinese grants.
The exhibition centre to be built in Purbachal would be named Bangladesh-China Friendship Exhibition Centre and China would provide Tk 626 crore in grants.
The Beijing Institute of Architectural Design has already prepared a design for the centre. It would have 806 booths of nine square metres each in two big hall rooms.
There would also be a conference room, press centre, meeting room and business information centre in addition to parking space for 1,500 cars. The first floor of the centre would house a maternity corner and creche.
The Ecnec meeting yesterday also discussed eight other projects involving Tk2,572 crore for approval.