Black money, stimulus fund can help revive real estate growth: Minister

Reintroduction of investment opportunity of undisclosed money in real estate business and a stimulus fund can help revive the growth of the sector, Housing and Public Works Minister Mosharraf Hossain said on Wednesday.
The opportunity should be reintroduced to allow investment of undisclosed money in the real estate sector unconditionally to encourage investors.  
"Section 19BBB of Income Tax Ordinance 1994 should be introduced again where no explanation is sought for the source of income and a Tk 200 billion stimulus fund could be given to help boost the real estate sector," Mr Mosharraf said.
The minister was addressing as the chief guest the inaugural ceremony of 'REHAB Winter Fair 2014' organised by Real Estate and Housing Association of Bangladesh (REHAB), at the Bangabandhu International Conference Centre in the city.
State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid attended the inaugural ceremony as the special guest.
He said, "The Prime Minister will come to my ministry on December 28 and I will inform her about this."
The government has taken different measures for the sake of the real estate sector as housing is one of the basic demands of the people.
"We are going to take a project for the slum dwellers on an experimental basis at Mirpur in Dhaka and in Khulna. There will be flats of two sizes -- 350 and 450 square feet - and a poor person has to pay Tk 175 and Tk 260 respectively per day for it and he/she will be the owner of the flat after 20 years," he added.
He said the realtors get loan at only 3 to 4 per cent interest rate in different countries including Korea, Thailand and Indonesia and the governments of those countries act as the guarantor. The matter will be looked into so that the local realtors can get loan from the stimulus fund at a single-digit interest rate.
Mr Mosharraf also said 40,000 flats will be built on 187 acres of land at Mirpur.
Besides, the government has plan to construct 100,000 flats within next few years and among these 18,000 flats will be at Uttara, 50,000 to 60,000 at Jhilmil and 8,000 at Purbachal projects.
Nasrul Hamid said REHAB has had around 10,000 flats worth Tk 150 billion unsold. It will be tough for the realtors to survive if these flats are not sold.
He said the country has the capacity of producing around 13,500 megawatt electricity. For this reason the realtors will get power step by step.
Drawing attention of the minister, Mr Hamid said on a recent visit he found that according to DAP (Detailed Area Plan) around 75 per cent of Keraniganj is under flood flow zone. It is unacceptable as there will be big jail, power hub and other infrastructures there.
REHAB president Alamgir Shamsul Alamin presided over the programme.
REHAB general secretary Md Wahiduzzaman, senior vice president Rabiul Haque, vice president and press and media standing committee chairman Liakat Ali Bhuiyan also spoke at the programme.
There are 150 stalls in the fair. Among these, 17 are for construction materials and five for banks and financial institutions.
The fair will remain open from 10:00 am to 9:00 pm. The entry fee is Tk 50 per head while the multiple entry fee is Tk 100. There will also be a raffle draw and the first prize winner will get a 42-inch LED Television on the basis of entry tickets.
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