Govt to relax laws allowing taller building on small land
Naim-Ul-Karim | Monday, 26 May 2008
The government is set to relax the Building Construction Ordinance-2007 allowing the realtors to build taller buildings on smaller land, officials said Sunday.
Several rules in the ordinance would be amended within days, raising the Floor Area Ratio (FAR), which currently restricts construction of taller structure on a very small piece of land, they said.
The changes would fulfill a key demand of the realtors and their main group, Real Estate and Housing Association of Bangladesh (REHAB), which have been lobbying to amend the rules since the enactment of the construction ordinance last year.
"We have decided to change the rules at the suggestion of a public-private expert committee," said a senior official of Ministry of Housing and Public Works.
The committee was formed early this year and has scrutinized the FAR rules at the insistence of REHAB and some major housing companies. The committee made the recommendation this month.
The government introduced the FAR rules in the 2007 ordinance in line with the global standard, deterring construction of taller buildings on smaller land, aimed at lessening pressure on utilities and traffic movement, particularly in the capital and Chittagong.
But realtors said the existing FAR rules have gone 'too far' and do not reflect the reality here as they 'massively' increased construction cost amid sky-rocketing prices of land in major cities.
Rehab chief Tanveerul Haque Probal welcomed the government's 'late realisation' of the true picture in the real estate sector.
"The government should have done it earlier. Still we welcome the decision to change the FAR rules as this will inject new momentum in the construction industry," Probal told the FE.
"A lot of companies and individual constructors have stopped building structures because of the restrictions imposed by the FAR rules. These rules have made it impossible to build structure on a small piece of land," he said.
"Hundreds of the companies have been waiting for the amendment of the laws. As soon as the government makes the amendment, these companies will start submitting their building designs to the authorities," he added.
A government official who was part of the committee that recommended the changes in the law said the amendment would reduce cost of construction and the apartment price.
"The reality is that the price of land in Dhaka and Chittagong is doubling every two years. Land is also getting scarcier day by day. So we have no choice but to allow construction of tall buildings on smaller land," he said.
"It will help reduce construction cost to a great extent as there will be opportunity for using more spaces," he added.
He said the new rules would treat the commercial and posh areas in the capital and the port city differently, as the cost of land is highest in these areas.
Several rules in the ordinance would be amended within days, raising the Floor Area Ratio (FAR), which currently restricts construction of taller structure on a very small piece of land, they said.
The changes would fulfill a key demand of the realtors and their main group, Real Estate and Housing Association of Bangladesh (REHAB), which have been lobbying to amend the rules since the enactment of the construction ordinance last year.
"We have decided to change the rules at the suggestion of a public-private expert committee," said a senior official of Ministry of Housing and Public Works.
The committee was formed early this year and has scrutinized the FAR rules at the insistence of REHAB and some major housing companies. The committee made the recommendation this month.
The government introduced the FAR rules in the 2007 ordinance in line with the global standard, deterring construction of taller buildings on smaller land, aimed at lessening pressure on utilities and traffic movement, particularly in the capital and Chittagong.
But realtors said the existing FAR rules have gone 'too far' and do not reflect the reality here as they 'massively' increased construction cost amid sky-rocketing prices of land in major cities.
Rehab chief Tanveerul Haque Probal welcomed the government's 'late realisation' of the true picture in the real estate sector.
"The government should have done it earlier. Still we welcome the decision to change the FAR rules as this will inject new momentum in the construction industry," Probal told the FE.
"A lot of companies and individual constructors have stopped building structures because of the restrictions imposed by the FAR rules. These rules have made it impossible to build structure on a small piece of land," he said.
"Hundreds of the companies have been waiting for the amendment of the laws. As soon as the government makes the amendment, these companies will start submitting their building designs to the authorities," he added.
A government official who was part of the committee that recommended the changes in the law said the amendment would reduce cost of construction and the apartment price.
"The reality is that the price of land in Dhaka and Chittagong is doubling every two years. Land is also getting scarcier day by day. So we have no choice but to allow construction of tall buildings on smaller land," he said.
"It will help reduce construction cost to a great extent as there will be opportunity for using more spaces," he added.
He said the new rules would treat the commercial and posh areas in the capital and the port city differently, as the cost of land is highest in these areas.