The government has decided to establish the country’s next Prime Minister’s official residence inside the Jatiya Sangsad (National Parliament) complex by merging the existing residences of the Speaker and Deputy Speaker.
According to government sources, a two-tier corridor will be built to connect the two adjacent buildings.
The decision follows the abandonment of Ganabhaban — the long-time Prime Minister’s residence — after it was stormed and vandalized by protesters on 5 August last year, leading to the fall of Sheikh Hasina’s government.
A month later, the interim government resolved to convert Ganabhaban into the “July Uprising Memorial Museum” documenting incidents from the former regime.
Currently, the Chief Adviser of the interim government resides at the state guesthouse Jamuna. However, since July this year a high-level committee under the Ministry of Housing and Public Works has been reviewing potential sites for future prime ministers and ministers. Initially, Jamuna and government bungalows on Hare Road were considered.
The plan then shifted to combining the Speaker’s and Deputy Speaker’s residences, located on the western side of the Parliament complex near Asad Gate.
On Sunday, a senior government delegation inspected the two properties. The team included Housing and Public Works Secretary Nazrul Islam, Parliament Secretariat Secretary Kaniz Mawla, the Chief Adviser’s Military Secretary Maj Gen Ferdous Hasan and Special Security Force Director General Maj Gen Mahbub Us Samad. Security agencies revisited the area on Tuesday.
Both houses — two-storey, south-facing, red-brick structures surrounded by boundary walls and gardens — were not part of architect Louis I. Kahn’s original masterplan for the Parliament complex. They were built in 2002 under the then BNP-led government, triggering legal challenges by the Bangladesh Environmental Movement (BAPA) and the Institute of Architects Bangladesh. In 2004, the High Court declared the construction illegal, but the Appellate Division overturned that verdict in 2022.
The two residences have been vacant since 5 August last year, after the resignation of Speaker Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury and Deputy Speaker Shamsul Haque Tuku.
Architect Abu Sayeed M. Ahmed, president of the Institute of Architects Bangladesh, warned that altering the Parliament complex could harm its architectural integrity. “We are trying to have the Parliament area recognized as a World Heritage Site. Such recognition could help halt these deviations,” he told Prothom Alo.
Bangladesh’s prime ministers traditionally used Ganabhaban, built in the early 1970s, though not all premiers lived there. The state guesthouse Jamuna, formerly “Karatoya,” has also served as a government residence at various times.
Officials said the ongoing committee — comprising senior representatives from the Public Works Department, Architecture Department, Parliament Secretariat and Special Security Force — has already held two meetings. They believe refurbishing the Speaker and Deputy Speaker residences would require relatively modest funds and could be completed quickly, potentially allowing the interim Chief Adviser to relocate there before a new prime minister takes office.
