Al Amin :
Motijheel, known as corporate commercial hub, has lost its business charm as biz houses are now opting for alternative location.
The corporate companies now want to move into modern developments that are green and offer adequate parking space without being too expensive.
The decision has been driven by multiple factors-lack of qualitative office space, absence of quality property, crunch in car parking, street protest that send schedule haywire and make communicate a nightmare.
Besides, lack of qualitative residential facility is also another reason for relocating the offices, corporate officials said.
Many commercial spaces are not getting rented. Such as a large spaces in DCCI, Bangladesh Sugar Corporation, FBCCI, Biman and BADC Bhaban have not been rented for a long time, although the space fare has been gone down significantly.
The space rent in Motijheel area was Tk 70-110 per square feet in 2013 but now it has reduced to Tk 40-50 per square feet.
The small and medium entrepreneurs are taking offices at Gulshan, Banani, Baridhara and Mohakhali DOHS area of the city for comfortable communication.
Head offices of many private banks including Exim Bank, Shahjalal Bank, AB Bank, City Bank, Modhumoti Bank have already shifted to Gulshan and Banani area. Some other private banks are also looking for suitable places to shift.
Only 12-15 out of 62 government and private banks’ head offices are now located at Motijheel area, once known as bank para (region).
Abul Kasem Khan, former president of the Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCI), told The New Nation on Sunday, “Undoubtedly, Gulshan is already an established corporate location within the city as major corporations have their offices in this area.
“Since no one can run a business without the help of other supporting bodies, these corporate companies tend to have offices nearby. That way, they can save time and avoid the hassles of traffic jam to execute important business-related matters,” he said.
Besides, Banani is such a location which is right beside the perfect commercial hub of Dhaka city as it doesn’t take much time and effort to move to different places and maintain a smooth corporate relation.
Since most reputed commercial companies are already located in Gulshan, it becomes much easier to set up a new corporate office in Banani and operate businesses.
As commercial institutions look for suitable and elegant office space locations, they consider Gulshan and Banani a top priority, Kasem said.
Lastly, area benefits also play an important role to qualify as a commercial hub of Dhaka. There should be ample facilities in terms of security, safety and to be a business environment.
For instance, commercial hubs usually have luxury hotels and restaurants nearby to host events or meetings. Main roads should be wide enough and buildings should have underground parking facilities. Banani and Gulshan have all of these.
Moreover, the Gulshan and Banani are diplomatic area and so has tight security 24/7, making the environment friendlier for international business transactions.
Having all these qualities, Banani shows prospects of being the next commercial hub of Dhaka city.
