Landlords craving for huge rents makes Chawkbazar hazardous
Warehouses yield many times more money than residential tenants
Saugato Bosu and Md Habibulla, Dhaka
Quick profits earned by renting buildings as warehouses and the location of factories nearby are encouraging the local residents to let out these residential establishments for commercial use in Old Dhaka. Though a tiny 600 square feet room fetches rents at seven to eight thousand taka per month elsewhere, a room of the same size used for warehouse earns a rent Tk 25-30 thousand per month with an advance of Tk 2-3 lakh. Despite the huge amount of rent, chemical and raw material traders do not step back; rather, they are quite willing to get such warehouses because the business is very lucrative.
People of the old parts of the capital, including Chawkbazar, learnt no lesson from the recent devastating fire that claimed at least 69. The owners of the buildings are still attracting people by putting up advertisement on the walls of buildings announcing the availability of space to be let out for warehouse purposes.
People of old Dhaka said many of the house owners rented out their building spaces as storehouses for chemicals and others combustible materials. The interesting fact is these owners do not live in these buildings. So they have made it a point to make money from them.
The Independent found advertisement poster for renting warehouses in Chawkbazar and contacted one of the owners. The owner told The Independent that he had space on the first floor of his building, which he wanted to rent out as a warehouse, not bothering about the nature of the materials to be stored. The building in question is located just 50 metres away from the Haji Wahed Mansion, gutted on Wednesdays fire. The rent of my 600 square feet warehouse is Tk 25,000 per month with advance money of Tk 3 lakh, said the owner on condition anonymity.
The Independent has details of the owners and their contact numbers who still advertise to rent their houses for commercial purposes. Ashik, a tenant in the Chawkbazar area, expressed his concern over the matter, saying they were quite aware of the warehouse renting issue. Generally, we are not informed about chemical or raw material warehouses in the basement or any floor of building we rent, said Ashik.
Like Ashik, several residents of the old Dhaka complained about the greed of building owners.
We pay Tk. 20,000 for our 1600 square feet apartment but if this apartment is rented out for warehouse then it would fetch Tk 50,000, said Mukul, a resident of Lalbagh area.
We also paid Tk 40,000 in advance as deposit which amounts to our two months payment, said Mukul. Md Abdul Manna, who lost his grocery in the Chawkbazar fire, told The Independent that he had been running his shop in the area for 40 years. I paid 23,000 taka as rent and five lakh taka for advance money. Now I have lost everything and it would be unbearable for me to carry such money to restore the shop again, said Mannan.
Many businessmen told The Independent that they had trade licences and even fire certificate to run their shops. As we get more money for commercial purposes instead of residential, we prefer businessmen to rent out space, said Muktabir, a local building owner in Chawkbazar.
On last Friday, Awami League General Secretary Obaidul Quader blamed lack of close monitoring at Old Dhaka chemical factories and storehouses as the main reason behind such devastation. After the Nimtoli incident in 2010, the government had removed some chemical factories and storehouses from the area, but they have since come back.
In reality, it is impossible to relocate the chemical warehouse as the businessmen are reluctant to shift their chemicals or other materials to other places because most of the businessmen live in the area, said one house owner. As a result, they persuade the house owners to rent their homes to them. The owners said a resident tenant would pay Tk 20,000. But a businessman was ready to pay at least Tk 70,000 and Tk 6-7 lakh as advance money if allowed to use the space for as a warehouse.
According to an estimate by Bangladesh Poribesh Andolan, there are about 25,000 warehouses of chemical products including 15,000 in residential buildings, although the city corporation has issued licence for only 2,500.
Although the Bangladesh Environment Conservation Rules 1997 does not permit operating factories in and around residential areas, the warehouses are in operation in Chawkbazar, Armanitola, Babu Bazar, Mitford, Shahidnagar and Islambagh areas and are mostly housed in residential buildings.
However, a BUET research says that 80 per cent of the buildings only in Old Town houses chemical shops, warehouses and factories. On visiting Chawkbazar, lalbagh, Islambagh and Mowluvibazar, The independent found out that every building has two portion as commercial and residential. However the residential parts start from second or third floor.
The commercial space is divided as two partsone as store or warehouse also known as godown, other section as shop. There are several underground markets in the area, where colour and plastic are stored People of these areas said the process they maintain here to build or rent a building is their long-time practice.
Such business is an ancestral business for the old citys residents. They cannot abandon it. Most people in the area trade in plastics and chemicals, said Md Khatibur, a local resident and building owner.
However, just after the Nimtoli tragedy, a Home Ministry committee made 17 recommendations, including the shifting of the chemical factories and warehouses outside Dhaka. Talking to The Independent Kazi Sarwar Imtiaz Hashmi, Assistant Director General of Department of Environment (DoE), said there must be political commitment needed to shift such factories and warehouses from old Dhaka.
We have faced severe obstacles in conducting mobile courts in old Dhaka against such traders, he said. There are huge channels of illegal money to run their business. The dishonest traders normally operate their business and do transactions at night, he added.
After the Chawkbazar incident the relocation work of the warehouse officially began from February 23, said Dhaka South city Mayor Sayeed Khokon.
Sayeed Khokon said that the relocation work of the chemical warehouse began with the removal of the the warehouse of Wahed Mansion.
He took an initiative to relocate these chemical warehouses just a few days ago. But, unfortunately, he could not complete his initiative.
Most of the building owners do not live in those areas where such chemical warehouses are located. Those who live there are always at risk, urban planner and architect Iqbal Habib told The Independent. Owners and traders are two types of people. One who builds the house but does not live there and other who rents it for business, said Iqbal Habib adding that people who move around in those those areas are in danger as most of Chawkbazar victims were commuters.
Iqbal Habib believes there is a lack of monitoring by government agencies and coordination. If there were drugs store or militants hub instead of chemical warehouse, the government would have taken steps against it. Then why not for such illegal business which caused death of so many people, said the urban planner.
However, he mentioned there are at least 24,000 traders (according to POBA) who run illegal trades and also adulterate perfume, lotion and other stationary thing. We have made laws to control militants and drugs; so why not for them? he asked.
