Railways to build 15-storey hotel, shopping mall in Ctg

·        The Tk45 crore project to be financed by private firm

·        BR will own the building after 40 years

The Bangladesh Railway (BR) will build a 15-storey hotel with a shopping mall near the Chattogram Railway Station at a cost of Tk45 crore.

The project will be implemented through a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) between BR and Epic Properties Ltd, both of which signed a contract on Tuesday at the Railway Building in the capital in this regard.

The Tk45 crore project will have a hotel, a shopping mall, along with offices, a movie theatre, convention centre, family recreation centre and apartments.

The cost of the project will be borne by the private partner and the railway will own the building after 40 years, according to the design, build, finance, operate and transfer system of the contract.

During the deal signing programme, Railway Minister Md Nurul Islam Sujon said, "Shopping malls are set up near stations in developed countries. We have a huge portion of land next to the stations across the country. We believe that with the income earned from the shopping malls, we can one day make the railways self-sufficient and profitable."

Md Ahsan Jabir, additional chief engineer (Bridge), and Eng Md Anwar Hossen signed the contract on behalf of the BR and Epic Properties.

Dr Md Humayun Kabir, secretary of the Ministry of Railways, Dhirendra Nath Mazumder, director general of BR and other high officials were present at the programme.