Dhaka building construction to rise as rules set to take effect

Construction costs in Dhaka are likely to increase further, as the Ministry of Housing and Public Works has taken steps to raise fees related to land use, design approval, and building construction permissions.

The increased charges may come into effect soon once the Dhaka Building Construction Regulations 2025 are officially gazetted.

Officials from the Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha (RAJUK) and real estate developers have confirmed the development. They said that fees for land use and building construction permits may increase several-fold.

As a result, construction costs for both residential and commercial buildings will rise significantly. Even industrial construction costs will go up. While government revenue will increase, there are concerns of the private sector facing negative impacts from this.

Fees for building design approval, time extensions, and land-use clearance were previously set at Tk 1,000. The new initiative proposes increasing this to Tk 5,000.

Additionally, a new fee of Tk 5,000 per katha (1.65 decimal) may be introduced for block-based residential unit construction applications, something that did not exist before.

In addition, residential building approvals will require a fee of Tk 50 per square metre. For commercial buildings and industrial factories, the fee may be as high as Tk 150 per square metre.

Religious establishments such as mosques, temples, churches, and pagodas will be exempt from fees, but these structures cannot use any portion of the premises for other purposes.

Currently, fees for residential buildings are set across 16 levels based on total floor area. For example, a building with 3,000 square metres of floor area currently requires a Tk 26,000 approval fee. Under the new regulations, this could rise to Tk 150,000 (Tk 1.5 lakh), an increase of Tk 124,000 (Tk 1.24 lakh).

In this case, the larger the floor area the higher will be the cost. A building with 10,000 square metres of floor area now requires Tk 83,000 in fees, which could rise to Tk 500,000 (Tk 5 lakh), an increase of Tk 417,000 (Tk 4.17 lakh).

For buildings with 30,000 square metres of floor area, the fee may rise from Tk 207,000 (Tk 2.07 lakh) to Tk 1.5 million (Tk 15 lakh), increasing the cost by nearly Tk 1.3 million (Tk 12.93 lakh).

According to sources from the Ministry of Housing and Public Works, in the third week of last month, a letter was sent to the Ministry of Finance seeking approval for the revised fee structure based on RAJUK’s recommendations.

Liakat Ali Bhuiyan, senior vice-president of Real Estate and Housing Association of Bangladesh (REHAB), told Prothom Alo, “If the approval fee is raised to Tk 50-150 per square metre, construction costs will increase for residential and commercial buildings both.”

“This may push up the prices of flats and commercial spaces, which will be burdensome for general buyers. We hope the government will consider keeping the fees within a reasonable range,” he added.

Meanwhile, the advisory committee responsible for reviewing the Detailed Area Plan (DAP) has finalised decisions to increase building height limits in several areas of the capital. RAJUK officials said that these amendments to the DAP will also be included in the new building construction regulations.

Speaking to Prothom Alo, Md Mostafizur Rahman, deputy town planner at RAJUK said that during design approval reviews, even a difference of one or two square metres affects the fee.

For this reason, a per-square-metre fee structure has been proposed. He said this framework was initially planned in 2014 but was not implemented as the regulations were not finalised at that time.

In response to another question, the RAJUK official added that the new Building Construction Regulations will be aligned with the Bangladesh National Building Code (BNBC) and the capital’s Detailed Area Plan (DAP). The regulations will soon be published in the gazette form.