The 19-storey building has basement-parking facilities where only 24 vehicles can be accommodated, which is not enough for around 50 offices.

The building has been constructed in close proximity to the Gulshan-1 roundabout where traffic congestion remains at its peak all the time and the roadside and sidewalks are used as parking lots, as most high-rises there are hardly offering adequate parking facilities.

MAH Selim, lawmaker and managing director of Silver Line Group, the parent organisation of Silver Tower, said, "We will provide each office with space for two vehicles. If more space is required, we will build another place into a parking lot where more vehicles can be accommodated."

"The plan of the building was approved in 1998 when the idea of parking facilities was not much talked about by legal bodies," he said agreeing that the parking space of Silver Tower is inadequate.

Selim also said it was not possible for all tenants to avail themselves of the parking facilities.

The Silver Tower is marked to accommodate around 50 offices. The calculated ratio of the occupants of the tower to parking allocations is approximately 3:1. To make things worse, customers and clients of the shops and offices of the building too need parking space.

But the Building Construction Act, formulated in 1952 and amended in 1996, says a commercial structure on 200 square metre requires at least 23 square metres parking space. As per the law, the 19-storey Silver Tower, placed on 5,000 square metres, will have to leave space for 48-50 vehicles.

Urban planners blamed the high-rise owners and architects who design beautiful skyscrapers with eye-catching interior décor but ignore parking facilities.

"We face trouble moving around the area as the footpaths are encroached upon by parked vehicles," said a resident of Gulshan. "The problem will increase by the day as high-rises are mushrooming in the area without proper plans."