Academy building faulty

A STYLISH BOOK COVER WITH WET PAGES: A damp develops on the wall in one of the players' rooms at the dormitory of the plush, only from the outside, GP-BCB National Cricket Academy in Mirpur.Photo: STAR

The GP-BCB National Cricket Academy has so far been limited to being just a concrete structure, in every which way. It hasn't yet been furnished with all the components that will make it functional.
Unfortunately, that is not the only problem.
The elegant building beside the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur not only gives a false hope; the concrete building itself is faulty.
The three-storied dormitory that houses the best cricketers in the country has developed cracks, leaking water from the wall, damp plasters and there appears many other problems, which bring more frustration with the National Cricket Academy, supposed to be the heartbeat for a cricketing nation.
"It's hard to believe that we are staying in a newly-built building. You see the cracks, the damp walls and the low quality fittings. Nobody is there for the maintenance of this so-called modern building," a national player, who is staying at the dormitory of the establishment, expressed his frustration with the faulty structure on condition of anonymity.
The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) is mainly using this building for the last seven months as residence for the players and coaches. And everybody staying at this building has been complaining about the poor construction of the building and even worse maintenance.
It was a noble gesture from cellular phone operators Grameenphone to came up with the financial assistance to build this building for the Academy. And it was learnt that Tk 6.90 crore was spent on the facility.
Many even raised questions about the faulty design of the building as rainwater seeps through inside the building.
"We are happy with the architectural view and structure. We know there have been some technical problems in the building and we are sorting out these problems. This kind of technical problems can happen," said BCB's acting CEO Nizamuddin Ahmed Chowdhury.
"We have significant amount of money which we are yet to pay and there is also the security money. So there is no point to be scared with the faulty issues as we are safe. They definitely repaired all the faults," he added.
It was quite a startling experience to see the way this modern building has been maintained.
There is only one person who looks after everything with the help of three peons and it was learnt that he was crying to the concerned people for more staff to take care of cleaning and all other maintenance issues.
"We are well aware of this issue and have already taken initiatives," said Nizamuddin.
The consultancy company, Basat, however claimed that they are yet to hand over the building to the BCB, who are using the establishment based on their own wish.
"Actually we are in a difficult position with this Academy. We are yet to hand them the building but BCB is using it," said engineer Ripon, who is looking after the whole thing in favour of Basat, over phone to The Daily Star.
"We could not pay the full amount of money to the contractors [Desh Builders]. You can say BCB is using an incomplete building," he added.
"It will take only seven days to rectify all these problems but I already explained to you where lies the problem with the establishment," said Ripon.
BCB director Gazi Ashraf Hossain, who has been specially assigned to look after the Academy affairs as a chairman, informed that he has a meeting with BCB president AFM Mustafa Kamal today regarding all the Academy issues.