Home ›› 29 Aug 2022 ›› News
Thirty-seven-year-old Rakibul Hossain used to work at construction sector for over15 years but he has recently become a street food vendor to maintain his family as he found it difficult to get work regularly in his previous profession.
Many realtors and citizens were forced to stop construction works due to sharp rise in the costs of rod, cement, brick and sand in the country rendering construction workers almost jobless, said Rakibul.
“As I had been jobless for several weeks, I recently decided to sell jhal muri (spicy puffed rice), chickpea, piyaju (spicy onion fritter) and puri (deep-fried wheat bread) in Demra area. As I failed to maintain my family with four children and my parents I switched my profession,” Rakibul explained.
Rakibul hailing from Mymenshingh, has been living at a rented house on the outskirts of Dhaka for last 10 years.
Earlier a bricklayer used to earn Tk700 daily but he had to remain jobless for two to three days a week or several weeks sometimes after prices of construction materials had skyrocketed. “Now I am earning Tk1, 000 daily from my shop,” he said.
Another construction worker Mohammad Shakil has been working as an auto-rickshaw driver for the last two months at Khalkini of Madaripur district leaving his construction profession.
“I used to pass idle time most of the days for the last several months. Actually, after Covid-19 pandemic we began to suffer because of lack of works. I was paid Tk300 daily when I worked at the construction sector. Now I can earn Tk700-1200 per day from auto-rickshaw,” he said confidently.
Like Rakibul and Shakil, Mohiuddin also left the profession in July this year. Mohiuddin went to Saudi Arabia taking a loan of Tk3.7 lakh from Brac Bank in Shariatpur.
Impact on projects for high prices of construction materials
The sectors insiders say activities in both public and private projects waned due to abnormal increase in the prices of construction materials.
Talking to The Business Post, a private job holder Md Shaheen said they started to construct a three-storey building in Lakshmipur but the construction had to be stopped due to alarming rise in the costs of construction materials.
“We have completed one storey of the building but we had stopped works following price hike of materials. So, since April, the work has remained suspended. We will resume the construction if the prices return to normal range,” he added.
Bangladesh Association of Construction Industry (BACI) President Engineer Shafiqul Haque Talukdar said around 7-8 lakh workers are currently jobless as most of the projects have been halted.
Bangladesh has 10,000 licensed contractors, around 300 of whom get to work in government mega projects. But most of the contractors are under pressure now as they have been forced to slow or stop their project because of mounting costs.
Many contractors became loan defaulters. Small enterprises are facing massive pressure to repay loan,” he added.
Workers passing a hard time
Imarat Nirman Shramik Association of Bangladesh (INSUB) General Secretary Abbur Razzaque told The Business Post that a good number of construction workers were shifting their profession as they had been jobless for a long time.
“Now our workers are passing a hard time due to slow construction activities. The situation began to turn bad during after the Covid-19 pandemic. We have no specific data but I think over 20 per cent workers are totally unemployed. And, most of the workers don’t get works at least 2/3 days a week,” he said.
The INSUB leader informed that there are around 35 lakh workers in Bangladesh. If the current situation continues, workers’ condition would further deteriorate in future. So, the government should provide incentive to sustain the sector so that workers get their benefits.
Many private and public projects have come to a halt due to high prices of construction materials. Now a mason gets Tk700-800 per day while labour Tk500 in Dhaka. But the payment is low in village, he added.
REHAB demands govt interference
The key construction material prices increased vastly this month due to soaring dollar rate. Now per 50-kg sack of cement prices rose up to Tk620-650 which is all-time high in the country.
Besides, price of each tonne of rod jumped up to Tk95, 000-98, 000 across the country. Per thousand brick is selling at Tk14, 000.
Talking to The Business Post, Real Estate and Housing Association of Bangladesh (REHAB) President Alamgir Shamsul Alamin (Kajal) said there is huge lack of skilled manpower in the sector.
“If our existing workers switch job from the sector, it won’t be a good message for realtors and the sector’s development. The sector will face big trouble if such situation exists for long in the country,” Alamin also pointed out.
He demanded government interference in controlling the prices of construction materials for the sake of the real estate sector’s development.
