A devastating fire in Bashundhara City shopping mall Friday destroyed its top floors where the corporate entities of the Bashundhara Group are located,
The group has a diversified operation from land, steel, shipping, logistics to paper production units. All the corporate offices of the 17 enterprises of the group are located in the building, claimed to be the largest shopping mall in South Asia.
Of the 21 stories, eight are used for the shopping mall and remaining floors are used as the corporate headquarters of the Bashundhara Group.
The arcade has around 2,500 retail stores including 100 food court and restaurants. It has 200 security personnel, parking capacity of 1,000 cars, 90 close circuit TVs, no-smoking zone, 21 lifts operating round the clock, 65 escalators and central air-conditioning. Besides, there are two gymnasiums, a swimming pool, three movie halls, modern fire-extinguishing equipment, amusement park, bank and moneychanger.
The main attraction of the mall was food court and brand shops and about 25,000 people visit the complex everyday.
The top floors from 12th to 21st caught fire and properties there were damaged by the blaze that broke out around 1:30 pm on the 18th floor of the city's 21-story shopping mall.
The archive room of the group is located on the 15th floor, which is completely burned down, confirmed an official of the group. Only the backup documents of East West Properties Development, which engaged in real estate business, are kept outside the building.
Deputy managing director of Bashundhara Group Touhidul Alam said he sent men to salvage papers after the corporate office caught fire. But they failed to save any.
The fire burnt down valuables and important papers, officials of the Group said.
They, however, said the main structure of the building has not been damaged.
"It took about Tk 7.0 billion to construct the building. Now, it is worth over Tk 20 billion," said one official.
The architectural design is indeed quite unique, with eight levels for the shopping-cum-recreation complex and the rest floors for the office tower. Vehicular entry and exit are supported by a service road.
The group, which emerged as a major business organisation in a span of less than 10 years, faced serious troubles when the caretaker government filed cases against its key persons for alleged amassing and concealing of wealth.
When asked, the officials said they did not know whether the mall was covered by fire insurance.
All fire-fighting units in the city rushed to the spot and tried to douse the fire. But they could not do it the ladders available with them were not sufficient to reach the required level.
Huge flames were seen shooting into the air and smoke billowing from the South Asia's largest shopping mall. Hundreds of shoppers rushed out through main gate after the fire alarm was rung.
