Faiz Ahmad Taiyeb, the Chief Adviser’s Special Assistant on the Ministry of Posts, Telecommunications and Information Technology, on Wednesday said the government has no plan to construct any establishment in the city’s Korial slum.
“An unexpected proposal for constructing a high-tech park in the Korail slum has reached us.” We call upon private entrepreneurs in the software sector to refrain from making such irresponsible statements, especially when hundreds of people are helpless and homeless, as Almas Kabir has been making such proposals both verbally and in writing. Due to valid reasons, the government has not taken his proposal into consideration,” he wrote in a post shared on his Facebook account on Wednesday.
Currently, Taiyeb said, the government has no plan to build any kind of establishment in the Korail slum.
About 43 acres of land in the Korail slum belong to the Bangladesh Hi-Tech Park Authority, and the authority has never taken the land under its possession, he said.
He mentioned that in the past, T&T (now BTCL) owned the land, but due to an ongoing court case that has not been resolved, the ICT division has not attempted to take possession of it.
“You know there was a software park in Janata Tower in Karwan Bazar where about 100 IT companies rented floor space, mainly running IT offices (there were also some companies beyond political considerations). But the condition of the building was so vulnerable that it needed urgent repairs, so the software companies had to be moved out and start repair work. At that time, there was no initiative to find a long-term alternative for the software industry,” the statement read.
The special assistant said the government is constructing a new building to set up a software park in Karwan Bazar.
He said that last year, they raised the issue of setting up a software park building in a small part of this huge plot, Banani Corner, where there is no slum.
“In this context, we spoke to some human rights activists. As per their advice, the ICT division refrains from planning to build any kind of infrastructure in the Korail slum.
“We want to make it clear that we currently have no plan to build any kind of establishment in Korail slum,” he continued.
Rather, Taiyeb said, the ICT division has sent separate letters to the Public Works Department and Rajuk requesting those to provide land in Agargaon or Purbachal or other areas of Dhaka for setting up a software park.
"Creating office space for software companies will contribute to an increase in exports in the IT sector." Accordingly, the paperwork is now progressing for allocating a plot in Agargaon in the Bangladesh Hi-Tech Park. A green leaf project is being undertaken to build the head offices of the software park, Hi-Tech Park and other infrastructure on this plot. The Public Works Department has given a positive nod,” he said.
“That means we have no plan to build infrastructure in the Korail slum, there is no ongoing project, and there is not even a proposal in the green leaf (project),” the special assistant added.
He advised private entrepreneurs to exercise caution and awareness when making statements unrelated to the government's plans.
“Especially when hundreds of people are in a helpless and unsafe situation due to the fire, I condemn this malicious attempt to embarrass the government by bringing up the ridiculous issue of establishing a high-tech park,” the statement said.
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