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Rupayan is leaning towards building more green apartments with its demand going up in the country. But higher prices of construction materials and apartment registration costs are posing a real challenge to realtors, Deputy Managing Director of Rupayan Housing Estate Limited (RHEL) Md Alinur Rahman told The Business Post’s Rafikul Islam in an exclusive interview
The Real estate sector of Bangladesh has expanded vastly. Please tell us about your current business situation?
The sector has boomed in recent years in Bangladesh but now it’s passing through a challenging time due to various reasons including Covid-19 pandemic and Russia-Ukraine war. Actually, the sector has flourished in the last one decade thanks to the self-venture of developers and realtors.
Though the sector contributes to Bangladesh’s GDP a lot, we don’t get a business-friendly policy from the government or other controlling bodies. The sector could be further expanded if the government and other authorities concerned would be more careful about us.
As housing is a basic need of people we are leaning towards taking up big projects on huge land to build accommodations for more people.
There is an investment of around Tk1, 20,000 crore. The sector will develop further in future as the country’s economy is booming gradually.
The RHEL has been one of the biggest names in Bangladesh’s real-estate sector. What is the company’s biggest strength?
The RHEL has had a glorious history of 24 years. We have fulfilled dreams of a lot of people by constructing strong and quality buildings in the country. We have already handed over more than 5,000 residential and commercial apartments.
We have a strong and innovative culture and we maintain the aesthetic design through our creation. Our strength lies in our unique products, excellent efficiency and productivity.
We are leading from the front. We created the country’s first township project (Rupayan Town) in Narayanganj and one of the biggest and first premium Mega Gated Community Projects (Rupayan City Uttara) in Uttara.
Our ongoing projects are at Motijheel, Naya Paltan, Mirpur-01, Tejgaon, West Dhanmondi, South Badda, Bashundhara R/A, Mirpur DOHS, Savar, Sylhet, Kanchpur, Cumilla, Chattogram, and Narayanganj.
The foundation work of our Green Paradise Project at West Dhanmondi on 102 kathas of land will start soon as the soil test has already been completed. Our first satellite town at Narayanganj will be environment-friendly.
Now, what type of flats is in more demand by customers?
Now both job holders and businesses are going through a challenging moment. So, apartment between 1500-2000 square feet is more in demand. Given that, we are building good apartment worth Tk1.5 core to Tk2.5 crore.
What type of facilities, do clients want in an apartment?
Once, buyers used to look for only an apartment. But now their test has changed due to increased income and change of lifestyle. Now, they want wellness communities and condominium apartments. Clients want multiple facilities together for their family members in apartments. They want such an environment so that kids and elderly people can enjoy together.
RHEL is a pioneer in Bangladesh providing condominiums, gated communities and satellite towns. Considering social responsibility, we always try to build environment-friendly housing where people from all ages can be beneficiaries.
Many developers prefer larger and greener apartments. Do you build green apartments?
The green apartment concept came in Bangladesh 5/7 years back. There are a lot of issues in green apartments such as water reusing issues, waste management, huge open space, a percentage of greenery and soil issue. Though some of them are being ensured here, it is tough to maintain all the issues in our country.
We are seriously working to include such facilities in all our projects. Now several companies like Bti, Sheltech, SEL, Concord and Rangs Properties Ltd are also doing it.
Our Rupayan Swapno Niloy in Siddheswari area of Dhaka was built based on green apartment concept. It is a high condominium project in the country. Besides, Rupayan Town in Narayanganj’s Bhuighar has a huge open space and greenery. Apart from this, our ongoing project named Rupayan Lake Castle in Bashundhara area will be a proper greenery building. And, Rupayan Green Paradise Project at West Dhanmondi will be built on a natural pond.
We don’t think about only financial issues before setting up a building. Our priority issue is to ensure a livable and quality building for our clients. As we build an apartment on our purchased land, we can provide it at a reasonable price.
What type of challenges do you face while implementing your projects?
There are many challenges in the sector. Now our key challenge is higher construction raw material prices and apartment registration cost.
The registration process should be at a minimum rate, otherwise buyers will suffer which will be a new challenge for the sector.
Besides, the construction area will shrink by 30-35 percent due to the Detailed Area Plan (DAP) when developers will construct buildings jointly with land owners. Ultimately it will push up the price of an apartment. The apartment price may rise by around 30 percent. I think DAP should be amended.
There are around 250 sub-industries in real estate sector. Now all should work together to flourish the sector.
Many allegations are there in the sector. As a developer company, what type of complaints do you receive from clients?
We have some complaints here due to our negligence, own policy and process and for which customers have to suffer.
But, we always try to ensure customers’ rights from the land process to apartment handover. We are firmly committed to ensuring our clients’ rights.We design our buildings by renowned architects of Bangladesh. We maintain 100 percent qualitative value in our projects.
Now developers use modern machinery in construction instead of labor. Which one is cost-effective for you?
Once, laborers used to carry raw materials on their heads to cast the roof of a high-rise building but the trend has changed. Now we use different types of modern machines in all our works including foundation piling and roof casting to work perfectly and speed up construction activities.
We also use ready-mix concrete (RMC) to maintain qualitative value and speed up the work. The mechanism is also used in civil work, sanitary and painting.
The demand for modern machines in the construction sector increased owing to high-rise buildings. Since the last era, the use of modern technology has been in place in the sector. Now, most of the companies use machinery to construct their projects.
Besides, we face labor shortage as they are disinterested to work hard. So, we have to take help from machinery. Now laborers don’t come to city from villages as they become entrepreneurs themselves or join other jobs or they work in villages.
The government will use eco-friendly blocks in all of its projects by 2025. Do you use the blocks in your projects?
Now eco-friendly blocks are being used in modern construction. We have already used the blocks in a project. In future, we will use more blocks in our projects.
What is Rupayan Housing Estate Ltd’s Future plan?
As there is a good demand for green apartment here we have a plan to build green buildings at Purbachal, Chattogram, Khulna, Sylhet, Cumilla and Bogura. I hope that our next mega cities will be based on 100 percent green building concept.
