The New Nation - Internet Edition

Staff Reporter

Gano Forum President Dr Kamal Hossain yesterday said the situation will take a U-turn if those who will come to power after December do not ratify the works of the present Government.

He was speaking at a seminar on Budget 2008-09: Overcoming the Problems of Housing Industry organised by Real Estate and Housing Association of Bangladesh (REHAB) at

the National Press Club yesterday.

The seasoned politician said there is no alternative to parliamentary democracy. But for effectiveness of democracy honesty and sincerity of politicians is a must.

He said some political leaders have deceived people in the name of politics. They did nothing for the people but delivered lectures.

REHAB president Tanveerul Haque Probal presented keynote speech at the seminar.

He said about 15 lakh construction workers have been affected as price hike of mild steel (MS) rod, brick and cement has slowed down the pace of construction work in the country.

He said 15 per cent duty cut on imports of MS rod and MS bar will not be fruitful to decrease the price of the materials if the Government does not monitor the market strongly.

The REHAB president said, "In 2006, the REHAB members constructed 7,000 apartment units. It fell to just 3,500 units in 2007 affecting more than 15 lakh construction workers."

Probal said, "The job crisis has been prevailing since the beginning of last winter when only a small number of residential and commercial buildings were under construction because of soaring prices of construction materials."

In the past one week, the price of finer quality rod ranged between the Tk. 70,000 to 72,000 per ton, up from around Tk. 40,000 in January.

Average price of a sack of cement is now Tk. 350 but it was Tk. 240 about a year ago.

The work on hundreds of under-construction private houses and commercial buildings across the country has been stalled or slowed down due to the recent price hike of the construction materials, according to some real estate developers.

The REHAB president made a 6-point demand including low interest bank loan for housing industry, decreasing registration cost, floating a secondary market for housing industry, withdrawal of VAT, reviewing income tax regulations and also to allow import of second hand machinery for construction.