Hotel Sundarban says it warned NBL Twin Tower about construction flaws

Officials of Dhaka’s Hotel Sundarban say they had warned the National Bank Ltd Twin Tower authorities about construction flaws.

The six-storey hotel at Karwan Bazar has been evacuated after almost a 120-ft stretch of the alley adjacent to it collapsed, bringing down with it a portion of its boundary wall on Wednesday morning. 
 
City authorities fear the building on CR Dutta Road might collapse.
 
The soil beneath the street came lose around 7:30am after it began raining. 
 
A general diary was filed at the Kalabagan Police Station, Hotel Sundarban General Manager Wajed Ali told bdnews24.com. 
 
The 15-ft alley between the hotel and the construction site caved in and fell into a ditch dug for piling. An electric pole, several trees, tea-stalls and several three-wheelers also fell into it.
 
“We warned them saying their piling wasn’t going right. But they didn’t listen and carried on with the construction.”
 
When asked if there were any flaws in the NBL building’s plan, Fire Service and Civil Defence chief Brig Gen Ali Ahmed Khan told reporters nothing could be said without examining the designs.

But safety measures need to be taken at the construction, next to a tall building and a street, because of the rainy season, he said.

However, Mohammad Salauddin, owner of the contractor firm M/S Construction and Development, vehemently denied any error on their part had caused the accident. 

“There was no problem with our construction. We were following Rajuk rules. No problem occurred in our work area, it happened beside our site.”

He said they were trying to recover from the incident. 

However, Dhaka mayors Sayeed Khokan and Annisul Huq and MP Sheikh Fazle Noor Taposh, too, blamed the contractors and Rajuk for their ‘negligence’. 

Taposh said, “It is Rajuk’s responsibility to oversee all work but they have failed miserably in this case. The contractor firm did not also take appropriate safety measures.”

Khokan echoed Taposh and said, “This is completely negligence of duty.”

“They were planning to make a three-storey basement. But they had not taken the required approvals… for that I urge strict measures against them.”

Rajuk’s acting chairman Abdur Rahman reached the site at the time the mayors and MP were talking to journalists only to face their anger. 

After a barrage of questions, he told journalists, “Rajuk might be responsible, but most of the responsibility lies with the contractor firm.”

He said the firm had violated Rajuk rules. “If they followed them, this would not have happened.”

The acting chief promised legal suit against the contractor if violation of construction norms was detected and steps against officials concerned if negligence in supervision was found. 

Dhaka North Mayor Annisul Huq said a 12-member committee, including representatives of the army, fire service, city corporation, Rajuk, and other related bodies had been formed to initially address the crisis. 

“We had a discussion about how to deal with this crisis and our expert team has suggested the formation of a support structure using sand bags. That is what we are doing now.”

Meanwhile, National Bank Ltd authorities claimed that the incident was a ‘natural disaster’.