Hotel construction puts trade school buildings at risk

The academic-administrative building and an adjacent tin-roofed one of UCEP Mohsin Khulna Technical School are seemingly at risk due to construction of a high-rise beside the institution, according to Kuet experts.

In mid-2018, Ahyan Hotel & Resorts Ltd (Movenpick) started constructing a 29-storey hotel beside the school at the city’s Boikali. Its foundation work is still going on.

The school authorities engaged Consultancy Research Testing Services, a technical research wing of Khulna University of Engineering and Technology (Kuet), on July 11 to assess the structural safety of those two buildings.

After visiting the spot, a three-member Kuet team gave a report on July 18 where they strongly recommended immediately evacuating the two structures with all belongings.

The report says the administrative building seems unsafe, having developed multiple cracks, posing an immediate risk due to the erosion of the soil underneath.

It has happened due to shore piles of the nearby deep excavation work, the report says. Also, the adjacent tin-shed structure is quite unsafe, it adds.

The Daily Star obtained a copy of the report.

Some parts of the tin-shed building collapsed and cracks developed in walls, floors, beams as well as ceilings of both the buildings, posing threat to students’ safety.

The vulnerable buildings were evacuated on July 9 this year, said the authorities.

Eventually, the school authorities had to shift two trades (departments) -- Industrial Sewing Operation and Tailoring, and Dress Making -- to Rupsha, six and a half kilometres off the site.

Moreover, they frequently moved different offices and classes to five other buildings within the campus fearing accident, which is ultimately damaging the machinery, stationeries and furniture, and subsequently hampering academic activities, said Dulal Chandra Golder, head of the institution.

UCEP school building next to it developed cracks. The photos were taken recently. Photo: Star

“Twenty-two staff members had to shift their offices to storerooms, classrooms, teachers’ common room and even practical classrooms,” said Gopal Chandra Mazumder, Khulna regional manager of UCEP.

“We cannot hold meetings and important events as our conference room is in that [administrative-academic] main building,” he added.

Dulal said, “Our students cannot have snacks as a shop was in that damaged tin-shed building.”

Md Nazmul Hassan, a student of General Electrical Works trade, told The Daily Star, “We are facing space constraint. In addition, we cannot concentrate on our respective lessons due to sound pollution and welding sparks as multiple practical classes are being held at the same place.”

Gopal Chandra said one IT Support Service trade had to be shifted to a non-AC tin-shed room.

Due to shifting of the two departments, 50 students and four teachers have to travel to Rupsha, said the chief.

The guardians, especially of female students, are becoming reluctant to send them to the distant campus, he added.

Salma Akhter, a student of Industrial Sewing Operation trade, said, “I cannot attend class on time. Besides, I need to spend Tk 50 daily for travel fare that is unaffordable for us.”

So, uncertainty is looming large over the education of a total of 440 students from needy families, said the school head, considering the overall situation.

During a recent visit to the construction site beside the institution in Boikali, this correspondent found workers excavating soil. Numerous cracks and signs of collapse were seen in those two school buildings.

Institution head Dulal Chandra said the buildings were not vulnerable before construction of the high-rise began.

He said around 14,343 students graduated from this technical school since its inception in 1993.

Run by UCEP Bangladesh, an NGO, the school provides underprivileged students with free technical education which is equivalent to SSC, said the school head.

On August 22, the UCEP authorities sent a letter to the hotel company’s Managing Director Md Ferdous Bhuiyan to stop excavation or any type of construction that might cause further damage, but to no avail, said Md Iqbal Hossain, director (people and operations) of UCEP.

In the letter, they also sought compensation but they are yet to get any pragmatic response, he said.

Contacted, Taj Uddin Ahmed Sajib, director of Ahyan Hotel & Resorts Ltd, said the school buildings were “harmed to some extent” although “we had taken all sorts of safety measures before the construction started,” he said.

They are trying to reach a consensus through discussions with the school authorities, said Taj Uddin.

Md Muzibur Rahman, authorising officer of Khulna Development Authority, told the newspaper that he is not aware of the high rise construction as he took charge just two months ago.

“I am yet to visit the site as no one made any complaint over the school buildings,” said the officer.