How to maintain the elevator of the country’s tallest building? Ask Mahbub

Mahbub’s days are a mix of routine checks, button-pressing efficiency during peak hours, and the occasional dash into action when the unexpected occurs. Photo: Miraz Hossain

Mahbub Alam, a 35-year-old man from Dhaka's Keraniganj area, never saw himself as someone drawn to academics. 

"Studies just weren't my thing," he admits with a smile. 

When it was time for the SSC exam, Mahbub left school instead of sitting for it. But he wanted to reach dizzying heights, and he did so — quite literally. 

As the liftman of the City Centre, the tallest building in the country, he often finds himself at the highest peak of Dhaka. Here, among the steel sinews of the building, Mahbub and his team keep the lifts humming.

City Centre, a 171-metre behemoth dominating the Motijheel skyline, is a marvel of modern engineering, crowned with a helipad at the top. 

Maintaining its smooth operation across all floors falls to a dedicated five-member team, of which Mahbub is a senior technician. This crew ensures the seamless functioning of the building's eight high-capacity lifts, each capable of ferrying up to 16 passengers (1,275 kg).

These lifts feature a central floor-selection system; instead of calling for each lift separately, the central unit dispatches the nearest lift to waiting passengers. Therefore, no liftman has to accompany the commuters throughout the floors.

Years of experience give Mahbub an intuitive understanding of the lifts' moods, allowing him to anticipate and often prevent problems before they arise.

"Even though we check the lifts regularly, they still experience momentary malfunctions once in a while," Mahbub admits. "Machines, you know!"

Work structure

They have a five-member team now, but there are two shifts. "At least six people are needed for two shifts, ideally," says Mahbub.

At four metres per second, our ride in that metal box to the top floor ended faster than I expected. Mahbub's voice echoed inside the lift as he explained the work structure. 

"Two senior technicians work in two different shifts. The first shift starts at 8 am and ends at 4 pm. The second shift begins at 2 pm and can often go past 10 pm," he continued. 

"So basically, one of us from the first shift is dragged to the evening shift. It's good that the company compensates him."

Maintenance is a crucial part of their job. "The first maintenance is basic interior cleaning of the lift," Mahbub says. 

He gestures toward the sleek, mirrored walls of the lift. "For this, there are cleaners, and someone from our team accompanies them to instruct. The hardware servicing is done by the lift company. Both are done according to routine—monthly servicing and twice-weekly cleaning." 

The rest of the time, it's them, the five of them, making sure the City Centre keeps reaching for the sky.

How the lift works

At high-rise buildings, lifts end at different levels. Mahbub explains, "From 0 to 37, lifts don't go up. Some stop at 19, some at 22, and one goes to 34."

In the mornings, the team performs primary checkups on the lifts. "Then we wait on the ground floor for any kind of hiccups," Mahbub notes. "Since it's machinery, any kind of technical issue may arise at any time. If any lift gets stuck on any floor, we race to the machine room. Machine rooms, a maze of whirring gears and blinking lights, are on levels 8, 19, 24, and 34."

He showed how they monitor the lift positions. In the machine room, there's an indicator light that shows whether the lift is on a level or in between levels. "If one gets stuck, getting people out safely is priority number one. Then we fix it, get it running again."

Emergency contact numbers are displayed on every level and inside every lift.

First to enter, last to leave

Mahbub's days are a mix of routine checks, button-pressing efficiency during peak hours, and the occasional dash into action when the unexpected occurs. A power flicker, a jammed door—these are the moments Mahbub thrives on. 

With practised ease, he troubleshoots, resets, and gets the lifts back on track, minimising disruption for the hundreds who rely on them daily.

From 9 am to 11 am, the team doesn't take any breaks. "That's peak hours for offices," he explains. "After 11, we go for tea breaks in the roster. When the shift at 2 pm comes, we take lunch breaks."

Usually, an emergency fix doesn't take more than five minutes. But one day it went way wrong.

The lift remained stuck for 10-15 minutes. Mahbub immediately went to the engine room and noticed that the lift wasn't on any level. He pressed the button to level it, but unfortunately, it aligned at the lowest underground floor. 

The lift is engineered to descend when loaded with 1,100 kg, which causes it to reach the bottom. To make matters worse, the door at that level jams. Since the lift hit rock bottom, he couldn't pull it up from the backend, so he had to call others to manually pull it up. 

Inside the lift, people panicked and kept pressing the bell. "I was torn between talking to the trapped people and working to get them out. Finally, we got them out safely," recalled Mahbub.

He started his career at a lift company called Creative Engineers Limited, where he gained hands-on experience as a technician, working for six years. 

Afterwards, he took a job at another company before joining this building in 2016. Through hands-on experience and close mentorship, Mahbub's technical expertise prepared him for Bangladesh's crowning architectural achievement.

After a long day, the liftman of Dhaka's tallest building heads home. "After 10pm, I take a Midline bus from Motijheel to get to Mohammadpur and then take a CNG auto-rickshaw from Mohammadpur to Keraniganj," he says, thinking of his large family of 10, including his parents and his brother's family.

Mahbub is quite content with his life, and work. 

"Well, I may not have excelled in school, wasn't one for books truth be told. But up here, with the city stretched out below, I feel like I'm on top of the world," he says. "Different kind of highflyer maybe, but hey, it's a good feeling!"