Since valuable items were removed, the BGMEA building in Hatirjheel, which was built illegally, will not be demolished at the fixed rate of Tk 15.57 million.
The building may be brought down at the new rate of Tk 16 million given by construction company Four Star Enterprise. Since the structure will not be demolished at the old rate, Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha (RAJUK) will be deprived of revenue of nearly Tk 5 million.
As per court order, RAJUK called tenders on Apr 17 last with last date of applications fixed on Apr 24. The main condition was to demolish the building within three months of starting work. Since the highest bidder backed out, the work went to Chattogram-based Four Star Enterprise.
BGMEA president Rubana Huq, approached the Housing and Works Minister asking for more time to remove lifts, papers, air conditions, electric sub stations etc. Their allotted time was till Nov 5. However, Four Star expressed their dissent saying that their bid was based on the condition of the building before all items were removed. Now, with the products taken away they could not recover the stated amount in the tender.
Manager of Four Star Enterprise, Md Nasrullah Khan, said: “The condition in which we inspected the building no longer exists .Goods worth Tk 15 million were removed. Now the building only has a few rods and selling these, we will not be able to make any profit.”
Acknowledging the complication, chief engineer of RAJUK, ASM Raihanul Ferdous said: “There was a problem about the matter which has now ended. We hope to give a demolition order next week.”
The building would be demolished using local methods, he added.
In 2010, a paper reported that BGMEA building did not have RAJUK approval. On Apr 3, 2011, Justice AHM Shamsuddin Chowdhury ordered the demolition of the building.
The BGMEA wanted time and on Apr 3, 2018, the court gave a 1 year period for breaking down the structure.