An international exhibition centre which was supposed to be completed by November 2018 will now be ready as a permanent venue for trade fair at Purbachal in 2021, officials said.
The government will extend the project tenure until June 2020, they added.
The exhibition centre styled 'Bangladesh-China Friendship Exhibition Centre' will be built at a cost of Tk 7.96 billion. Of the amount, China will provide Tk 6.26 billion in grant and the Bangladesh government will provide only land.
The officials involved with the project said it is still at a very initial stage.
The Ministry of Commerce has acquired 20 acres of land at sector 4 of Purbachal on its Roopganj side for the fair ground which RAJUK handed over to the implementing agency -- Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) -- in April this year.
But EPB now wants to expand the area up to 50 acres of land.
"We are working with RAJUK to get more lands for the exhibition centre. We hope we will get few more lands within one month. If we don't get lands as expected, we will try to get whatever RAJUK agrees to provide," Project Director Md Rezaul Karim told the FE.
The project tenure will be extended until June 2020, he said, adding that EPB plans to launch the project work in February next year. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is likely to inaugurate the project work through a videoconferencing.
Once the project is complete, the venue for annual trade fair will be shifted to this site from its temporary venue at Sher-e-Bangla Nagar.
Visiting the ground, dormitories, office and primary work for the construction are seen going on.
Engineer Chong who is involved with the project told the FE that primary construction work is going on at the ground. It will be completed in November 2018.
But Mr Rezaul Karim said it is not possible to complete the construction work in November 2018. "Even primary construction materials have not yet reached Dhaka from China," he added.
Chinese State Construction Engineering Corporation is implementing the project on behalf of the Chinese government.
The Beijing Institute of Architectural Design has prepared a design for the centre. There will be 803 booths of nine square metres each in two big hall rooms.
There will also be a conference room, press centre, meeting room and business information centre, as well as parking space for 1,500 cars. On the first floor, there will be a maternity corner and crèche.
Once the permanent exhibition centre is set up, manufacturers and exporters can showcase their products all the year round, according to the proposal. Local companies will get more ideas from visiting foreign buyers.
Dhaka International Trade Fair (DITF) is held in January every year with participation of local and foreign companies.
DITF is annually being arranged at Agargaon since December 01 in 1995.
