Rehab demands ‘monitoring cell’ to fix construction material price

Rehab demands ‘monitoring cell’ to fix construction material price

Dhaka, Apr 2 - Real Estate and Housing Association of Bangladesh (Rehab) on Tuesday demanded the formation of a ‘monitoring cell’ to determine the prices of construction materials and product quality.

Rehab leaders made this demand at a view exchange meeting with the State Minister for Commerce Ahsanul Islam Titu at his office at the Secretariat.

Rehab president Md Wahiduzzaman led the delegation where senior vice president Liaquat Ali Bhuiyan, vice president (1st) former MP Lion M. A. Awal, vice president (2) Mohammad Akter Biswas, vice president (Finance) Abdur Razzak among others were present.

The Rehab leaders demanded the formation of  the monitoring cell comprising the representatives from the commerce ministry, Rehab, FBCCI and concerned stakeholders to maintain the price of construction materials and product quality, said a Rehab press release.

They said housing sector is facing a deep crisis due to the increase in the prices of all construction materials including rods, cement and cables.

The Rehab leaders said that flat prices in Dhaka have already gone beyond the reach of common people. Due to various reasons, the price of construction materials has gone up, making it difficult for the middle class people to buy a flat.

They said, basically developers take up projects in partnership with land owners and sell them at the beginning of the project implementation at a fixed price.

Due to sale and purchase agreement, even if the price of construction materials increase, the price of the flat cannot be increased, they said.

The leaders mentioned that housing sector is facing challenges more than ever before. Many times it is seen that the price of imported raw material decreases but the price of the product does not decrease in the country, the rehab leaders observed.

But, if there is a little increase in the prices of those products, the price is increased significantly in the country, they said further.

Again, there is no effective system for checking the quality of construction materials in the country, but it is very important to check the quality for the sake of safety, the rehab leaders pointed out. 

The State Minister for Commerce assured them of considering their logical demand after reviewing the situation.-UNB