Almost a week after the initial land subsidence at a Karwan Bazar construction site, city corporation authorities announced that the nearby Hotel Sundarban and the adjacent Panthapath street were now out of danger.
While inspecting the site yesterday, Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) Chief Engineer Md Habibur Rahman made the remark, adding that almost 80% of their efforts are now finished while the rest of the work would take only a couple more days.
However, as workers continue to dump sand into the void left by the four separate incidents of land subsidence, authorities said they would maintain caution by keeping the Panthapath street partially open and a portion of the Bir Uttam CR Dutta Road closed until their work was complete.
The DSCC chief engineer yesterday assured that Hotel Sundarban was safe, saying the building would be able to provide service to its boarders for the next thirty to forty years.
But the hotel authorities said they would not resume business until all damages were repaired.
“As soon as the authorities declare the building risk-free, we will start our repair work; and after ensuring security of the building, we will open the hotel,” said the hotel’s General Manager Md Wazed Ali.
The hotel has suffered financial losses of more than Tk50 lakh as well as immense damage to its reputation, the GM said. “After completing the rescue work, we will be able to estimate our losses accurately and will file a case [against NBL Bank and contractors MS Construction] then.” Meanwhile, Kalabagan police station officer-in-charge, Md Iqbal, said the police have already taken action over a general diary filed with the station.
Progress in recovery efforts
Talking to workers at the site of the NBL Twin Tower, the Dhaka Tribune learnt that because of traffic jam in the area – only 145 truckloads of sand had been dumped yesterday at site as of 5:40pm.
DSCC Chief Engineer Habibur said the entire construction site would eventually be filled with sand and there would be no problem after that.
Dhaka South Mayor Sayeed Khokon also visited the spot twice yesterday and expressed his hope that the entire work would be completed within the next two days.
On Wednesday morning, a large part of the Bir Uttam CR Dutta Road near the Karwan Bazar intersection subsided into the construction site of the NBL Twin Tower, putting the neighbouring building of Hotel Sundarban at risk.
The initial incident was followed by consecutive incidents of land subsidence on Thursday, Friday, and Sunday – raising safety concerns and disrupting traffic movement in the area.