BNP agitation threatens real estate

Real estate business groups claim the BNP’s ongoing blockade is threatening their investments worth Tk 250 billion.

They claim to have already sustained a Tk 16.56 billion loss due to violence since Jan 5.

Shamsul Arefin, president of Real Estate & Housing Association of Bangladesh (REHAB), discussed the losses suffered by real estate groups at a press conference in Dhaka on Thursday.

In a written statement, he said construction work has nearly stopped as the blockade hampered shipment of building material.

It has also affected the sale of apartments and and related transaction as well.

The BNP-led alliance is going ahead with a violent blockade to press for a snap election ignoring calls from all quarters. Their agitation has left about 100 people dead.

Arefin urged the political parties to negotiate a solution to the ongoing crisis.

He said the 1,200 members of REHAB had worried over the Tk 24 billion taken in loan from banks.

He demanded rescheduling their classified loans for two years to help them recover the losses and called for Bangladesh Bank’s housing fund again to provide loans on single digit interest.

“We’ll go bankrupt if the situation continues,” he said.