An unauthorised expansion project of Pan Pacific Sonargaon Hotel is being implemented on the southeast corner of the hotel's main building.

Amazingly, blatantly defying the building construction laws and showing disregard to the future of the city, the authorities of the 100 per cent government owned five-star hotel continue the construction work encroaching on Begunbari canal in the capital without any land use clearance or a plan approved by Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakhya (Rajuk), according to Rajuk officials.

The low-lying areas along the Begunbari and Hatirjheel canal are an integral part of monsoon and flood water retention facilities for the heart of the city, according to experts and environmentalists. The canal is clearly earmarked as a rainwater catchment area in the Dhaka Metropolitan Development Plan (DMDP).

The DMDP clearly indicates that densely populated areas like Maghbazar, Tejgaon, part of Gulshan, Badda and Rampura along the canal will face severe adverse consequences if the catchments areas of Begunbari and Hatirjheel canals are earth-filled, said Prof. Nazrul Islam, honorary chairman of Centre for Urban Studies. If these canals are destroyed, the Maghbazar area in particular will be severely affected by water logging after even a light rainfall.

Chief Town Planner Jahurul Hoque of Rajuk said when his attention was drawn on the issue, "I will try to raise the issue at Rajuk board meeting."

Authorised officer of Rajuk Muzaffar Uddin said authorities of Sonargaon Hotel did not obtain any permission for the building construction. "We will take measures to serve a final notice to them in this regard by Sunday."

Such permissions are mandatory by the Building Construction Act of 1953, Metropolitan Building Construction Rules-2006 and Bangladesh National Building Code (BNBC) and non-compliance is a punishable offence.

The project includes a multi-storied car parking lot, a convention hall, tower block, boundary and retaining walls and peripheral road network.

Rajuk served the first notice to the hotel authorities for non-compliance on August 6 last year.

In the second notice served on August 17, the Rajuk authorities asked the hotel authorities to show cause within seven days why unauthorised construction should not be demolished.

The notice also stated that the hotel authorities were going on with construction work in violation of the Building Construction Act of 1953.

Rajuk further instructed Hotel Sonargaon to prepare a construction plan in consultation with Buet (Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology). A team of experts from Buet conducted a study on the nature of development work in the said canal.

Prof Mujibur Rahman, who led the Buet study group, said constructions like BGMEA building and Sonargaon Hotel extension project are not compatible with the recommendations the team made in their study report.

But the Sonargaon Hotel authorities have all along been neglectful to Buet's observation.

Sources said, following Rajuk notices on the hotel, Civil Aviation and Tourism secretary Shahid Alam, a former chairman of Rajuk and now ex-offcio chairman of the Hotels International Limited (Hil) that runs Sonargaon Hotel, intervened in the matter and asked the Rajuk authorities not to proceed any further.

The secretary held a meeting with Rajuk chairman KAM Haroon on August 30 at Sonargaon Hotel and advised the Rajuk chairman not to go further with action against the hotel authorities, added the sources.

The secretary-level intervention put off legal action by Rajuk against the authorities of Pan Pacific Sonargaon Hotel.

After the meeting, the Sonargaon Hotel authorities were supposed to apply for and obtain the permission, but they did not obtain permission as yet.

Honorary chairman of Centre for Urban Studies Prof Nazrul Islam said their (Sonargaon Hotel authorities') attitude indicates that they are above everything. "It is regrettable that a prominent organisation like Sonargaon Hotel assumes to be so audacious.

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Executive member of Bangladesh Poribesh Andolan (Bapa) architect Iqbal Habib strongly condemned the destroying of the Begunbari canal and termed the roles of political governments, Rajuk, Dhaka Wasa (Water And Sewerage Authority) and Bangladesh Railway dubious.

"Both the Awami League and BNP governments were involved in mindless plundering by allotting plots on natural water body like the Begunbari canal on political consideration," said Iqbal.

He demanded the Sonargaon Hotel authorities pull back from their unauthorised development work. He also demanded immediate restoration and demarcation of the canal and implementation of recreational facilities on it.

Managing Director of Sonargaon Pan Pacific Hotel Gholam Nabi said he instructed the project officials to obtain post-facto approval a couple months back.

"It is an open secret that government organisations usually do not follow the building construction laws and rules," Nabi said adding, "But I agree that land development and construction must be incompliance with building laws and rules."

Even Public Works Department (PWD) itself does not comply with building rules. To establish the authority of Rajuk, PWD has to start abiding by the building laws first, Nabi suggested.

Rajuk has hardly been able to exert its authority in brining the defiant builders of unauthorised buildings to book. Rajuk's success is limited to serving mere notices on the errant builders.

It has consistently lost in almost all the cases it filed in court against defiant builders who are invariably powerful.