Office space owners at BGMEA building worried about relocation
Companies that purchased floor space at the BGMEA building are anxious about relocation of their offices and compensation, as the Supreme Court has ordered authorities to demolish the structure.
The Supreme Court on Sunday dismissed the petition of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association to review a verdict by the High Court on demolition of the 16-storey building at Hatirjheel in Dhaka.
The High Court, in its verdict in 2010, also directed BGMEA to pay back the money that came from the sale of floor space to the buyers. At least 40 companies have been operating their businesses at offices housed in that building.
“We do not know what to do now as the court has issued a verdict to demolish the building,” said MA Rahim (Feroz), vice-chairman of DBL Group that runs its office in the BGMEA building.
The group bought 60,000 square feet of space at Tk 5,000 a square foot 12 years ago; it rented another 60,000 square feet from BGMEA.
“The BGMEA can offer us the same amount of space in its new building, which will probably be in Uttara, or can pay us back at the current market price,” said Feroz.
BGMEA has been looking for three to four bighas of land in Uttara to construct its new office.
Md Nazrul Islam Mazumder, chairman of Exim Bank that also has floor space in the building, said they will sit with BGMEA leaders soon to reach an amicable solution.
“I hope there will not be a misunderstanding between BGMEA and Exim Bank in this regard,” said Mazumder, who is also a leading garment exporter.
Siddiqur Rahman, president of BGMEA, said the trade body will act according to the court's verdict, but it will take a bit of time. “Some companies leased space from the building earlier. We will sit soon to finalise the issues.”
On the decision to purchase land in Uttara for the office, Rahman said noting has been finalised yet. “We are looking for a good place in Uttara for the BGMEA building.”
Earlier in 1998, then prime minister Sheikh Hasina laid the foundation stone of the BGMEA building and former prime minister Khaleda Zia inaugurated the structure in October 2006.
The BGMEA building, constructed on two bighas of land, has a total space of 2.66 lakh square feet; the association owns 1.40 lakh square feet of this space. The rest was sold, leased or rented out to different individuals or companies.
The main building has different amenities like a restaurant, gymnasium, swimming pool, conference rooms and two-storey basement car parking. The total value of the building is more than Tk 300 crore, according to BGMEA.
Out of the building's 266,000 square feet area, BGMEA sold 125,000 square feet to different companies, including apparel manufacturers and exporters and two commercial banks. According to buyers of the space, BGMEA sold per square foot at Tk 5,000 a decade ago. So the price of the sold space (125,000 square feet) stood at Tk 62.5 crore at that time.
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