Over 4yrs gone, building of 140 model mosques makes no headway

The construction of 140 model mosques in different upazilas and districts has yet to get started even after a lapse of four and a half years.

The bidding of tender and land acquisition are just underway before construction kicks in. The authorities have so far completed building 50 model mosques only while 370 are being constructed.

The Ministry of Religious Affairs has sent a second amendment proposal to the Planning Commission seeking an extension of three years and Tk 713 crore more for the project, a senior official of the planning ministry told The Business Post.

“The project evaluation committee held a meeting on it and cleared the project, which has been sent to ECNEC for approval,” according to the official who preferred to remain anonymous.

Meanwhile, the government has undertaken a project to build 560 mosques in district and upazila towns spending Tk 8,722 crore from its own coffer. The project cost is now estimated at Tk 9,435 crore and expected to be implemented by June 2024. It was supposed to be completed in June 2021 after the first amendment. The project cost was cut by Tk 340 crore in the first revision. Bangladesh Islamic Foundation is implementing the project.

ECNEC approved the project worth Tk 9,062 crore on April 25, 2017. Some 90 per cent of the fund was expected as grant from the Saudi Arabia for constructing the mosques. A year has passed since the approval but the foreign assistance has not been ensured. Under the circumstances, the government decided to implement the project on its own fund.

According to progress report till June, the financial progress of the project is 17.87 per cent. Of the total fund, Tk 1,556 crore has been spent on the project. The overall progress of the project is 32.4 per cent.

Project Director Hajera Khatun said: “The implementation has been delayed due to slow fund disbursement. If the second amendment proposal is approved at the ECNEC, there will be no more problems to implement the project.”

She hoped the project would be completed by June 2024. According to project proposal, model mosques would have libraries, hold sessions for teaching Quran and provide education for children and training for Hajj aspirants and Imams.

The mosques will be four storied in district level and three storied at upazila level.

Sources said there are hardly any mosques with modern amenities in districts and upazilas.

The project aims to prevent militancy, violence towards women and increase awareness about the government’s development activities.