The Rajshahi Development Authority has decided to rename the building constructed for the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Square ‘Rajshahi RDA Complex’.
‘We are sending a proposal to the housing and public works ministry to change the name of the newly constructed building as it will no longer be named after Sheikh Mujibur Rahman,’ said RDA chief executive officer Abu Hayat Md Rahmatulla.
He said that once the ministry approved the new name they would use the things of the building for cultural purposes.
Replying to a question, Rahmatulla said that there were an open stage, an art gallery, a cafeteria, and a conference room in the building and they would lease them to independent individuals or organisations in favour of Rajshahi people.
Earlier in 2017, the RDA took a project titled ‘Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Square’ at Talaimari crossing, with an estimated cost of about Tk 59.28 crore, aiming at upholding the spirit of Bangabandhu and ‘adding beauty to the city’.
The cost of the project, however, was doubled (Tk 125 crore) in 2022 as the consulting firm made a change in the design of the building midway through the construction.
Later, following the ouster of deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina amid a student-led mass uprising on August 5, the housing and public works ministry cancelled the second phase work of the project.
Since then, the building constructed in an area of 12,518.08 square metres of land at the Talaimari crossing in Rajshahi city at a cost of Tk 61 crore has remained idle for the past six months.
