After the ruling party lawmaker Enamul Haque’s ENA Properties Ltd and two other Korean firms failed to implement Uttara Apartment Project, Rajuk (Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha) says it has planned to go forward with the project on a G2G basis with the Malaysian government.
Sources say the Housing and Public Works Ministry and Rajuk are jointly dealing with the Malaysian authorities to implement the project that includes building apartments for low- and middle-income people at Sector 18 of Uttara Residential Model Town in the third phase. The two previous phases have already been completed.
Rajuk member (development) Naim Ahmed Khan told the Dhaka Tribune: “We have decided that no new contract would be signed with any home company. He claimed the government of both Bangladesh and Malaysia would work on a government-to-goverment basis on the unfinished project.”
In February 2012, Rajuk inked a deal with ENA Properties Ltd, a real estate firm owned by Awami League lawmaker of Rajshahi 4 constituency Enamul Haque, for constructing the apartments. In June the same year, a joint venture agreement was also signed with ENA Properties and two South Korean construction companies, namely Dung Ah and DDJ.
For Type A flats measuring 1250sqft each in 49 16-storey buildings, Rajuk signed the agreement with ENA, Dung Ah and DDJ for 75% of the total construction work. For the remaining 25%, there was another joint venture deal involving Hamid Construction Ltd, owned by Awami League lawmaker Nasrul Hamid Bipu, and Building for Future Limited.
Although Hamid Construction and its associate firms are continuing the construction, ENA and the two Korean companies are yet to meet conditions of the agreement with Rajuk.
Sources say ENA and the other two Korean firms took more than Tk25 crore by submitting construction bill but no progress was made in around the last two years. According to the agreement, 54% of the construction was supposed to be completed by now but the companies have done only 4%.
Because of the dilly-dallying of ENA, Rajuk had repeatedly sent it warning letters but no step was taken on the part of the company. This prompted Rajuk to terminate the ENA-Dung Ah and ENA-DDJ agreements in December last year.
The companies have just begun piling work of a few buildings, though construction began in 2012.
ENA is yet to leave the project area despite Rajuk terminating the deal with it. It has even contacted another home company Samin Real Estate to appoint another sub-contractor for the project.
ENA-DDJ filed a writ petition with the High Court against officials concerned of Rajuk, the Ministry of Housing and Public Works and IFIC bank. After submission of the writ petition, the High Court issued a stay order asking the manager of the branch concerned to deny Rajuk permission to withdraw Tk72,641,573 deposited by ENA-DDJ for enchasing performance guarantee money. The stay order was also issued on a letter sent by Rajuk to ENA-DDJ on December 12 last year mentioning termination of the deal.
Besides, ENA also sent a legal notice to Rajuk asking them to mention reasons for termination of the agreement. Project Director Prafulla Chandra Bhowmik told the Dhaka Tribune that Rajuk’s legal section is dealing with it.
“The agreement was terminated due to the delay in construction and all the decisions were taken by Rajuk high-ups,” he added.
Prafulla claimed he had no personal link with ENA or Samin Real Estate officials.
Meanwhile, the Public Works Department (PWD) has also been tasked with constructing 30 buildings under the project. PWD has signed an agreement with ENA for the project but progress has been slow like the previous time. This is why PWD is also considering terminating its contract with ENA.
Enamul Haque could not be reached for comment despite repeated attempts.
In light of this situation, the flat owners have expressed concern over whether they would be handed over the flats on time. Although Rajuk is supposed to hand over the flats in 2016, it is unlikely that it would be able to meet the deadline.
Already more than 500 flat owners have withdrawn their installment money. Rajuk officials, however, said if ENA did not get rid of the legal complications, they would begin constructing Type A apartments in the land allocated for Type B apartments.