DHAKA: To reduce human pressure on the capital, it has become urgent to decentralize the administration. Industrial units also shall have to be relocated outside the capital. Everybody wants to stay at Dhaka. We should come out of this mentality. The districts should be empowered.
These observations were made by the Managing Director of ENA group of Properties and MP from Rajshahi-4 Engineer Enamul Haque.
He told that now for all works people rushes to Dhaka though most of those works can be done at districts level. Government should recast the administrative system in that way. Then the pressure of people in the capital will ease.
Enamul Haque on last Wednesday, July 16 gave this exclusive interview to Banglanews Special Correspondent Ahmed Razu at the corporate office of ENA group at Pantha Path in Dhaka.
Senior photo Correspondent of Banglanews Delwar Hossain Badal took part in the session. In the interview Enamul Haque talked on various problems and prospect of the country.
He told that to ease pressure of the people sky scrapper buildings should be constructed. In that case the proper utilization of land will be possible. Tokyo is the most densely populated city in the world, but there is no traffic congestion as they have made sky line policy for proper utilization of land.
In foreign countries there are 100 storied buildings but here we are not allowed as it will endanger the flying of planes. We must come out of this obsolete policy. For constructing high rise buildings we should relocate the airports far away from capital like other countries.
Regarding the high price of flat Enamul told that as we cannot go beyond ten floors so the cost of flat is high. If the apartments could be made twenty floors then the price would have automatically come down.
To bring dynamism in real estate business he told that we need to take bank loans at the rate Taka 18 percent which is only 5 to 7 percent long term loan in other countries. If government would have provided separate allocation of Tk 3000 crores, then many would have become flat owners with the rent money.
He disclosed that the registration cost of flat is 18 percent now. It is too high. It should be made 5 percent. If the registration cost is lowered then the revenue of the government will increase because forty industries are involved in this sector.
He said that like food and clothing, shelter is also a fundamental right of human being. We are giving subsidy to paddy, rice and in agriculture. Now we will have to think subsidy in accommodation sector.
He suggested the shifting of garments factories from capital to the districts by building ‘Industrial zones’ there. In this shifting process government should provide subsidy.
However, he also suggested good communication system in those areas particularly railway system. He gave views that our rail stations should be built in such a way where in the upper floors markets and offices can be accommodated like the developed countries. These tasks, if transferred to private sectors then it will yield good results.
Regarding the successes of the government he categorically said that we have many successes in comparison to BNP government. We achieved success where BNP failed.
He said that BNP did corruptions to the tune of Tk 24000 crores in fertilizers. BNP sold one bag of fertilizer at Taka 4 thousand while we sell at Taka one thousand only. During BNP rule farmers laid their lives for fertilizers now fertilizer run after the farmers.
He said that during BNP rule the country was deficit in food production while now we export rice and the price is also relatively low than BNP time. Now the country is self sufficient in food.
The capacity of electricity production was 4500 MW when BNP left power while now we enhanced the production to 7300 MW. BNP allocated Taka 30 thousand crore for new power stations while the out put was only 50 MW. Where they had wasted or laundered the money.
He told that BNP was never able to distribute the free books in time while we distributed on the first day of new academic year. Our government distributed 23 crores of free books in the secondary level.
Regarding the financial solvency of the people Enamul Haque told that during BNP rule the per capita income was a bit more than 600 dollars while presently it reached to 1200 dollars. The per capita income will be 1500 dollars in 2019 and then country will be middle income country, he added.
Now the people have realized that only Awami League can bring prosperity of the country. If people support us then we will be able go further ahead, he said.
Enamul Haque informed that in 1996 Awami League government introduced widow and old age allowances. At that time freedom fighters’ allowance was also introduced at Taka 400 per month which now been raised to Taka 5000 per month.
Education allowance has been introduced for girls. Each girl student is getting Taka 1600 education allowance per annum. Sixty percent girls and thirty percent boys have come under the scheme. Girls in the villages are becoming educated. You will not find a single village in the country where there is no female Masters Degree holder. This is a great success of the government, he opined.
He stressed the need for a pragmatic industrial policy with special emphasis on growing industry in village. For this purpose he suggested tax relax from 10 percent to twenty percent. However he opined that infrastructure should be built before that for rural industrialization.
Regarding the development of his own constituency he said that the development which I did during last five years did not happen during last 35 years. Besides, I have taken up an elaborate plan for the development of my constituency.
BDST: 1655 HRS, JUL 21, 2014
