In course of implementing Padma Multipurpose Bridge Project (PMBP), Bangladesh Bridge Authority (BBA) needs to undertake land market survey (LMS) for the newly acquired land for PMBP as and when necessary in order to make adequate compensation of land for involuntary resettlement of the concerned land owners. As in the case of the earlier LMSs, the objective of the current LMS is to determine the replacement value of land for the newly acquired land for PMBP in 11 Mouzas of Shibchar Upazila under Madaripur district, 3 Mouzas of Janjira Upazila under Shariatpur district and 3 Mouzas of Louhojong Upazila under Munshiganj district. To this end, the current LMS will cover all categories of land most recently acquired by PMBP.

Although provision of alternative land is conventionally treated as the best option for compensation, land is notoriously scarce both in the PMBP area and nationally and bulk acquisition of land makes it almost impossible to find a comparable piece of land in the immediate vicinity of newly acquired land to do justice to the landowner. Hence, in order to figure out the replacement value of the newly acquired land, current market price of land (CMP) will be collected from three different sources:  (i) Government price of land (Mouza rate) as recorded in the local Upazila Sub-Registrar’s Office for the period from July 2015 to June 2016;  (ii) Transacted price of land bought and sold during the same period, to be  reported by the actual buyers and sellers; and (iii) Reported price of land to be reported by the key informants (e.g. deed writers, land traders & brokers, school/college teachers, former and current Union Parishad Chairmen/members, community leaders and other knowledgeable persons) of the respective Mouza/locality. For (ii) and (iii), the survey will be conducted using a pre-designed questionnaire approved by the PMBP authority.

The research team consists of K.A.S. Murshid (Adviser), Harunur Rashid Bhuyan (Project Director) and Abdul Hye Mondal (Team Leader). The study will span over a period of three calendar months to be effective from the date of signing the contract between BIDS and PMBP (20 November 2016).