Secretariat to be relocated to old trade fair venue, new road to be built

As the Secretariat will be relocated to Sher-e-Bangla Nagar, there will be no new buildings inside the Secretariat located on Abdul Gani Road in the capital.

The government made a policy decision last Wednesday to relocate the Secretariat in a meeting presided over by Prime Minister Tarique Rahman.

Top officials from the Ministry of Housing and Public Works, the Public Works Department, and the Department of Architecture were present at the meeting held at the Prime Minister's Office.

The following day, the Ministry of Housing and Public Works sent a letter to the Planning Commission to include a project for relocating the Secretariat in the Annual Development Programme (ADP).

An inter-ministerial meeting on this project is expected to be held at the Planning Commission next week.

According to a related source, the government aims to commence the project work as soon as possible and achieve visible progress during its tenure.

When contacted, the Chief Architect of the Department of Architecture, Asifur Rahman Bhuiyan, who attended the meeting, told Prothom Alo that three separate designs were presented by the Department of Architecture for relocating the Secretariat to Sher-e-Bangla Nagar. Everyone agreed to finalise one of the designs.

Architect Asifur Rahman Bhuiyan said that the project will be developed based on this design. The designs will also be presented at the meeting of the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC).

According to information from the Ministry of Housing and Public Works, several initiatives to relocate the Secretariat to Sher-e-Bangla Nagar were taken during various periods, including under the Awami League government that was ousted in the July uprising.

In 2015, a project worth Tk 22.09 billion was initiated to relocate the Secretariat, scheduled for completion by June 2018.

It was initially planned to construct the Secretariat on 32 acres of land north of Zia Uddyan and west of the Bangladesh-China Friendship International Conference Centre, where the annual trade fair is held. The plan followed the original blueprint by Louis I. Kahn, the architect of the National Parliament Building.

During the Awami League administration, the original designs of the entire Sher-e-Bangla Nagar including the National Parliament Building by American architect Louis I. Kahn were brought to the country at the cost of 400,000 dollars. The plan was to build four main buildings with nine floors on top of fourteen-story bases.

However, the relocation did not materialise. During the interim government period of one and a half years, there was no discussion about moving the Secretariat.

Under the new BNP government, a project was undertaken to construct a 21-story building within the Secretariat at a cost of Tk 6 billion. When the project was presented at an ECNEC meeting on 26 April, it was sent back without approval.

In the meeting, Prime Minister Tarique Rahman instructed the Ministry of Housing and Public Works and the Department of Architecture to assess the possibility of relocating the Secretariat to Sher-e-Bangla Nagar.

In the past five months, the Ministry of Housing and Public Works has held several meetings with stakeholders regarding the potential relocation site for the Secretariat. The preliminary estimated cost for implementing the project is Tk 35 billion.

After five months of review, a report was presented in front of the Prime Minister last Wednesday. Three separate designs by three teams from the Department of Architecture were shown in the meeting. One design was finalised, and based on it, the Housing Department was instructed to prepare the project.

According to the proposed design, a circular road will surround the Secretariat. A road will be constructed behind the Bangladesh-China Friendship Conference Center. This road will exit to Mirpur Road passing by the July Uprising Museum (former Ganabhaban).

There are various establishments near the museum such as schools, hospitals, and the Ministry of Defence which may need to be relocated to accommodate this road.

The Ministry of Housing and Public Works has indicated discussions about constructing an underground road beneath the road that runs from Bijoy Sarani through Agargaon to Mirpur No. 10. The proposed Secretariat could be accessed via the upper road, while Mirpur Road can be reached using the lower road. A separate project might be undertaken for this.

According to the proposed design, each building within the Secretariat will be 12 stories tall. The buildings will be constructed in alignment with the National Parliament.

Related sources indicate that after the relocation of the Secretariat to Sher-e-Bangla Nagar, the main challenge will be traffic congestion. However, the Ministry of Housing and Public Works stated that measures will be taken to keep the area free from congestion.

A source from the Ministry of Housing and Public Works mentioned that after the Secretariat moves from Abdul Gani Road to Sher-e-Bangla Nagar, the current Secretariat could be repurposed for government offices such as the Dhaka Deputy Commissioner’s (DC) Office and the Superintendent of Police’s (SP) Office, currently scattered throughout Old Dhaka.

Due to limited space, the current Secretariat poses challenges for officials in carrying out office work effectively and causes heavy traffic congestion around it, leading to wasted working hours. The current Secretariat covers 1.7 million square feet, while the proposed design plans for a 3.1 million square feet area.

The trade fair ground belongs to the Ministry of Housing and Public Works, and the trade fair was moved to Purbachal in 2021, leaving the ground vacant. Four years ago, a project was undertaken to build a park on the vacant land at a cost of Tk 1 billion, although the project did not come to fruition.

The Ministry of Housing and Public Works believes that leaving the area vacant could lead to unauthorised occupation. If the Secretariat is relocated, it would prevent the land from being encroached upon.

Architect Iqbal Habib opines that relocating the Secretariat to Sher-e-Bangla Nagar following Louis I. Kahn's 1969 design would be inappropriate in 2026. He suggests considering alternative sites for relocation, similar to Putrajaya in Malaysia.

Iqbal Habib mentioned that numerous government facilities have already emerged in Sher-e-Bangla Nagar and Agargaon, increasing the number of vehicles in the area. Establishing the Secretariat there could lead to severe traffic congestion.