A five-day ‘REHAB Fair 2014’ began at Bangabandhu International Conference Center (BICC) in the city on Thursday to promote the country’s real estate sector.
State Minister for Power and Energy and former REHAB President Nasrul Hamid inaugurated the fair.
REHAB acting president Major General (Retd) M Abdur Rashid, organizing secretary Saidul Islam Badal, joint treasurer Engineer Ansar Ali, co-chairman of fair standing committee Engineer Suhrawardi, fair convener Asadur Rahman Joardar and co-convener Engineer M Kamruzzaman were among others, present at the opening function.
Nasrul Hamid speaking as the chief guest assured the government’s support to the housing sector.
Referring to the harassment in getting power and gas connections in the past, he said the consumers now get connections of gas and power within 40 days of submission of their applications.
He said that two more gas compressors would be installed by April this year.
A total of 141 REHAB members and 14 construction and housing financing companies are taking part in the fair. The fair will remain open to visitors from 2 pm to 9 pm on the opening day while 11am to 9pm on remaining days.
The real-estate business has not improved as nearly 22 thousand ready flats remain unsold for lack of power and gas connection, the REHAB leaders said at a press conference earlier on Saturday. The leaders said the aggregate cost of the unsold flats is around Tk 150 billion. And it is a huge property wastage, despite the fact that country’s metropolitan cities are suffering from serious housing crisis, they added.
Growing constraint of power, gas connectivity, income tax hike, mandatory solar panel usage, liquidity crisis, and lack of prudent future planning were described as some of the major problems of the sector, said Engr. Anisujjaman Bhuiyan, general secretary of REHAB.
He said local housing industry contributes 15 percent of the national income. Bhuiyan alleged that work of some 8,000 apartments of around 500 new projects is lying closed because of power connection.
This situation is depriving about 70,000 construction workers from their employments and ultimately causing harm to more than 0.5 million people directly or indirectly involved with this industry, Bhuiyan added. In this connection he demanded unconditional investment opportunity for the owners of hidden money for the overall betterment of the industry.
Realtors demanded a special fund of Tk 50 billion and credit support at a rate of 7 percent interest for the middle-income customers so that they could get opportunity to become owners of flats.
This will bring down apartment prices within the reach of the middle-income segment of the society, the REHAB general secretary said.
Referring to a July, 2009 government circular, he said new connections were to resume after a daily gas production of 2200mmcfd. But the recent data showed that the country’s gas production reached to 2270mmcfd, he added.
“As per the government decision, currently there should not be any problem in providing new connection of gas,” he said raising the demand for arrangement of gas connection at least in areas where gas network exits within 500 yards.
Nowhere in the world the land registration fees is more than 10 percent whereas in our country it is 12.50 percent, he said.
REHAB leaders strongly demand that land registration fees be reduced to 5.50 percent, from the current rate of 12.50 percent.
They also noted that stagnancy in real estate business caused Tk 7 billion loss in forex inflow as response from NRBs also fell remarkably in the recent years.
Instead of investing in their home country, NRBs are now turning around to the housing industries in Malaysia, Singapore etc, they pointed out.
More than 5,000 customers, who have taken loan of nearly Tk120 billion housing loan from different financial institutions to buy apartments, are not being able to enter their houses in absence of power and gas there, some housing sector leaders alleged.
“In one hand they have to pay their house rent again they have to count the interest money for the loan regularly,” Bhuiyan said.
