Reduce price of building materials at an affordable level: REHAB

FT ONLINE

Leaders of Real Estate and Housing Association of Bangladesh (REHAB) on Tuesday said that housing business have become vulnerable due to price hike of construction materials.

They called for reducing the essential construction materials like rod and cement at an affordable level to help sustain the sector’s growth.

They also feared that the housing sector will face setback in coming days unless the issue is not addressed immediately.

The office bearers of Real Estate and Housing Association of Bangladesh (REHAB) made the call at a press conference to protest the hike in construction materials price, held at the National Press Club.

The REHAB president Alamgir Shasmsul Alamin, its senior vice president Nurun Nabi Chowdhury, vice president Liakat Ali Bhuiyan and director Kamal Mahmud, among others, attended the programme.

Speaking on the occasion, Shasmsul Alamin said prices of rod, cement, brick and other materials have shot up alarmingly in last six months.

"The price of per ton rod has increased by 23 percent while per sack cement by Tk 50-60 and per thousand brick Tk 1,000 in a year," he said.

The price of per tonne rod has been increased to Tk 68,000-Tk 70,000 from Tk 59,000-Tk 60,000.

Expressing his concern, Shamsul Alamin informed that many realtors have expressed their intention to stop their construction works for an interim period .

"Housing business will come under threat as flats are likely to be more expensive because of high price of land and rise in signing money for land owner that,"he said.

REHAB's senior vice president Nurunnabi Chowdhury assumed that high interest rate in home loan by banks and other financial institutes may leave a negative impact on the housing sector.

Replying to a question, he informed that a total of 11,000 flats of REHAB are now lying unsold.