Eastern Housing occupies Tk 200 crore worth of government land in Mohakhali

Eastern Housing has occupied 1.0840 acres of land belonging to the Roads and Highways Department (RHD) adjacent to the Mohakhali Bus Terminal. Located in one of the capital's prime commercial areas, the occupied land is estimated to be worth around Tk 200 crore.

In a recent move to ease chronic traffic congestion, the Traffic Division of Bangladesh Police has written to the Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC), requesting that the land be recovered and temporarily allocated for the expansion of the Mohakhali Bus Terminal.

The terminal has long been suffering from an acute shortage of space, as the number of buses operating there far exceeds its capacity. As a result, buses are frequently parked on the main roads, causing severe traffic congestion around the Mohakhali Flyover, Amtali, and the Gulshan Link Road. Meanwhile, the large parcel of government land next to the terminal remains inaccessible due to the alleged occupation.

According to official government records, Eastern Housing legally owns 1.75 acres out of the 3.4132 acres of land located on the eastern side of the Mohakhali Bus Terminal. However, in reality, the company is occupying 2.8 acres.

RHD records show that the department owns 1.6088 acres in the area but currently has possession of only 0.5248 acres. The remaining 1.0840 acres are under the control of Eastern Housing.

In the same locality, however, the Directorate of Non-Formal Education remains in possession of its 0.0544-acre plot.

Harun Or Rashid, Vice President (Finance) of the Real Estate and Housing Association of Bangladesh (REHAB), told Asia Post, "Land prices in the Tejgaon-Mohakhali area currently range between Tk 2 crore and Tk 4 crore per katha. Even if we calculate at an average of Tk 3 crore per katha, the market value of the disputed government land occupied by Eastern Housing is approximately Tk 200 crore."

Housing Company Using Government Land as Garage

A visit to the site near the Mohakhali Bus Terminal and DNCC Hospital found that Eastern Housing has been using the land as a storage yard for construction materials and as a vehicle garage for its housing business. Several single-story buildings on the site are being used as staff accommodation and office space.

Following the traffic police's letter, the Mohakhali Bus Owners' Association demolished part of the terminal wall and took control of a section of the land occupied by Eastern Housing. For nearly a month, they have been filling the area with soil to integrate it with the existing bus terminal.

Samiul Ahsan, an official of Eastern Housing's Mechanical Department, told Asia Post, "Our construction materials used to be stored there. About a month ago, people from the bus terminal took possession of the area."

Another Eastern Housing employee said, "I have worked here for 33 years. Since the beginning, I have seen this place being used as a storage yard and garage. We always believed it belonged to Eastern Housing, but now we hear that it belongs to the Roads and Highways Department."

Md. Mehedi Hasan, Transport Manager (additional duty) of DNCC, said, "We are not the owner of the land. Therefore, we cannot take possession of it or carry out any development work there. After receiving the police's letter, we forwarded it to the Property Department. At present, the Mohakhali Bus Owners' Association has undertaken the eviction on its own and is developing the site."

Bus Owners Want Entire Land Recovered

The current president of the Mohakhali Bus Owners' Association and owner of Ekota Paribahan, Sirajul Islam Siraj, told Asia Post, "About 15 to 20 days ago, the land was measured in the presence of Eastern Housing's Managing Director, and a portion was identified. However, more than one and a half bighas of land are still under the company's occupation."

"A large amount of construction materials remains there. They had promised to vacate the area within four to five days but have yet to do so. We have now started filling the land with soil and developing it ourselves."

Responding to questions about carrying out development work on RHD land, Siraj said, "The City Corporation is supposed to develop the terminal. But since the Roads and Highways Department has not officially transferred the land to DNCC, the corporation is unwilling to proceed. So we were compelled to begin the development ourselves."

He added, "Previously, only about 450 buses operated from Mohakhali. Now the number has increased to around 1,400, and there simply isn't enough space to accommodate them.

Every day, three to four buses worth over Tk 1 crore each are dumped due to the lack of parking facilities. Although transport operators are required to have their own depots when obtaining route permits, only a handful of buses in Gabtoli have dedicated depots. The rest have none.

Even my company, Ekota Paribahan, operates 120 buses without a depot. We would be greatly relieved if the government recovered the entire occupied land from Eastern Housing and developed it properly. Otherwise, the bus terminal should be relocated as soon as possible."

Initiative to Reduce Traffic Congestion

The government has undertaken a plan to permanently ease traffic congestion in Mohakhali. Under the initiative, long-distance bus operations will be relocated to Purbachal, Hemayetpur, Kanchpur, and Baghair in Keraniganj. Once implemented, the Mohakhali, Gabtoli, and Sayedabad terminals will be used only as city bus terminals or depots for routes operating within Dhaka.

As the construction of a new terminal in Purbachal is a long-term project, the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) Traffic Division has taken steps to provide immediate relief to commuters. On May 19, the DMP Headquarters' Procurement and Logistics (Traffic) Division sent a letter to the administrator of the Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC), requesting that encroached Roads and Highways Department (RHD) land, along with other nearby government land, be recovered and temporarily allocated for use as a bus terminal.

The letter stated that due to a shortage of parking space, bus drivers are forced to park their vehicles on the main roads, worsening traffic congestion. It added that recovering these unused government properties and allocating them to the terminal would play a positive role in easing congestion.

DMP Additional Commissioner (Traffic) Md. Anisur Rahman told Asia Post, "We had information that several plots of land belonging to different government agencies beside the Mohakhali Bus Terminal were lying unused. Some of those lands are also under illegal occupation. We collected the relevant documents, reviewed the records, and sent a letter to the DNCC. The next decision now rests with the city corporation."

Private 'Understanding' Over Government Land

Despite the DMP's letter, government agencies have shown a tendency to avoid taking responsibility. Taking advantage of the situation, the Mohakhali Bus Owners' Association has begun developing part of the land into a bus depot.

Mohammad Shawkat Osman, Chief Property Officer of the DNCC and acting General Manager (Transport), told Asia Post, "We have received the Metropolitan Police's letter. However, the government has already made a high-level policy decision to establish new terminals for long-distance buses outside Dhaka."

"Whether the RHD land beside the Mohakhali Bus Terminal will be integrated into the existing terminal is also a matter for the government's higher authorities. Moreover, DNCC is not the owner of this land, so we cannot make any unilateral decision. The current bus terminal land also originally belonged to the RHD before it was transferred to the city corporation."

When contacted about recovering the RHD land or temporarily allocating it for terminal use, Syed Moinul Hasan, Chief Engineer of the Roads and Highways Department, declined to comment.

To seek the position of Eastern Housing regarding its alleged occupation of the government land, this reporter contacted the company's Managing Director, Siddiq Rahman. Later, his assistant and the company's urban planner, Mostafizur Rahman, told Asia Post over the phone, "We have reached an understanding with the Bus Owners' Association regarding the Mohakhali site."

"The land actually belongs to us, but because the ownership documents had not been updated for a long time, they mistakenly assumed it was their land. The matter has now been resolved."

When asked why the Bus Owners' Association was developing and incorporating a large section of land adjacent to the bus terminal if Eastern Housing was the rightful owner, he declined to provide a direct answer.