The capital development authority has decided to go for ‘controlled demolition’ to tear down the 15-storey office building of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA).
The decision came after a team of Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha (RAJUK) inspected the building, located on the Hatirjheel in the city’s Karwarn Bazar, on Tuesday (Apr 16).
RAJUK Hatirjheel Project Director Raihanul Ferdous said, “We have consulted with Chinese experts. They advised us to go for controlled demolition."
Authorities have already cut off the utility services and asked to evacuate the building, he added.
The building, however, will reamin sealed off from Tuesday, said RAJUK executive magistrate Khadakar Oliur Rahman, one of the officials.
Earlier in the morning, the RAJUK team, accompanied by nearly 100 policemen, took up positions in front of the building in a bid to demolish it.
RAJUK also brought bulldozers and a payloader to knock down the building.

Earlier, the BGMEA said it would vacate the Hatirjheel building by Apr 12.

Built about two decades ago, the building poses danger to the capital’s wetlands.

In 1998, then-Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina laid the foundation stone of the building. The construction began the same year.

The building was inaugurated in 2006 by Khaleda Zia as prime minister.

The High Court ordered it to be taken down in 2011 as the building was constructed in violation of the law. The Appellate Division in June 2016 upheld the verdict.

As a last-ditch attempt to save its office building, the BGMEA filed a petition for a review of the top court's verdict, which was scrapped on Mar 5, 2017.

In October 2010, the High Court issued a rule asking why the building should not be demolished.

The rule came after a lawyer presented a report carried by an English-language newspaper on the building.

The court had then sought explanation from the secretary of the public works ministry, RAJUK, BGMEA president, district administration and Dhaka metro police commissioner.

In 2011, the High Court ordered the structure to be taken down as it found the building had been constructed in violation of laws meant to protect wetlands.

“The BGMEA Bhaban is like a cancer in the Hatirjheel project and if the building is not taken down immediately, it will infect not just Hatirjheel but the entire Dhaka City,” the court said in its verdict.

It also said ‘the reason behind sparing a certain influential quarter with strong financial backup beyond the reach of the law is completely unacceptable’.

The full verdict was available two years later, when the BGMEA moved the Appellate Division against the ruling.

On Jun 2, 2016, the Supreme Court turned down the petition and upheld the High Court's verdict.