6 new markets for essentials planned

The ministry has chosen Tongi, Gabtoli, Jatrabari, Hatirjheel, Khilgaon and Lalbagh as the areas to build the markets in.

The LGRD ministry formed a 10-member committee headed by Commerce Secretary Suhel Ahmed in January last and assigned it to find suitable places for the markets. The committee to date has specified venues for three markets.

Tap here to add The Daily Star as a trusted source

Construction of the market in Tongi will start first, in the next fiscal year, and an architect will be appointed soon as consultant to finalise its design, meeting sources said.

The Tongi wholesale market will be housed in a six-storey building, with the first three floors as the actual market place. The wholesalers and transport operators will have their offices in the third floor while housing apartments for the market operators will occupy the fourth and the fifth floors. A half-a-mile-long access road will also be built from the Turag river to the market.

Construction of the markets in Gabtoli and Jatrabari will commence sometimes later.

Though the exact spots for the remaining three markets are not determined yet, it has been decided that the present Karwan Bazar wholesale market will be relocated to the fourth market in Hatirjheel. The location selection committee is scheduled to visit the area tomorrow to identify a suitable place.

Explaining the rationale of the new markets, Commerce Secretary Suhel Ahmed said, "We've noticed that prices of essentials differ a lot between those in the city and just outside it."

He noted, "For instance, a commodity that costs three taka outside Dhaka City, is priced at 16 taka in the city markets, just because of transportation and preservation problems."

"When we finish constructing these modern markets, which will be easily accessible by road and waterways and have proper goods preservation facilities, we believe the prices of essentials will come down to a reasonable level," Suhel adds.

The Tongi market will occupy an 8.6-acre plot of land near the Tongi Bridge and beside the Dhaka-Mymensingh highway. Most of the land, lying idle for the last 32 years, belongs to Atlas Bangladesh Ltd and the government owns the rest.

The Gabtoli market will be set up on a 13-acre plot on the south-west of the inter-district bus terminus. A chunk of this land belongs to Bangladesh Agricultural Development Corporation, a part is public land on the flood protection dam and the rest belongs to private owners.

The Jatrabari market will be built on a 6-acre plot east of Demra Police Station and north of Dhaka-Chittagong highway.