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The Dhaka City Corporation selected two firms for the construction of two multi-storey complexes — at Gulshan Circle 1 and at Mirpur Section 10.
   The Amin Associates has been selected for the 18-storey complex at Gulshan and the Shahjahan Group for the 16-storey complex at Mirpur.
   A draft agreement paper has been prepared and it will be sent to the LGRD and cooperatives ministry after mayoral approval, said Sayed Mozaffar Hossain, executive engineer of the bazar circle of the corporation.
   The Gulshan complex will be constructed on 2.25 acres of land at an estimated cost of Tk 125 crore while the Mirpur complex will be constructed on 1.32 acres of land at an estimated cost of Tk 46 crore.
   According to the proposals, after construction of the Gulshan complex, the corporation will get 27 per cent of shares and the Amin Associates 73 per cent. The corporation will get 22 per cent shares of the Mirpur complex and the Shahjahan Group will get 78 per cent shares.
   The first five storeys, including the basement, of the complex at Gulshan will be used as shops while the first four storeys, including the basement, of the complex at Mirpur will be used as shops.
   The remaining storeys of both complexes will be used as office and for other purposes, said Mozaffar.
   The shops at the both complexes will be owned by the corporation. Besides, the corporation will own the open spaces and other unusable area of both the complexes.
   The corporation on the other hand will issue work order for two more complexes — for a 26-storey complex at Gulshan Circle 2 and a 16-storey complex at Banani — in a week.
   Agreements have recently been signed with the contractors and they are now taking preparation to begin construction.
   The complexes will be built on a build, own and transfer scheme on one acres of land.
   The corporation is expected to get about Tk 100 crore by selling or allocating the shops and offices at the four complexes. It expects to earn Tk 10 crore every year from the four complexes in rent, said Mozaffar.

Dhaka Metropolitan Building Construction Rules -2006 is expected to take effect on July 1, said speakers at a discussion in the city on Saturday.
   Addressing the discussion on ‘Dhaka Metropolitan Building Construction Act-2006’ at Dhaka Sheraton hotel, the president of Real Estate and Housing Association of Bangladesh, Mohammad Abdul Awal said, the revised building construction rule is likely to become effective on July 1.
   The gazette notification on the new rules was issued on April 12.
   Abdul Awal, however, said they would request the government for allowing them some time to comply with the rules.
   Former president of the REHAB and the president of Bangladesh Institute of Planners, Towfiq M Seraj, its general secretary, Tanvirul Haque Probal, vice-president, Anwar Hossain, also addressed the meeting.
   Two presentations were made by Mahbubur Rahman and Mahtab-uz-zaman at the discussion.
   Appreciating the revised rules, Seraj said it might create some problems at the initial stage, but in future everybody following the rules would be benefited.
   The rules make every one involved with construction of a building responsible for any faults in its construction, but earlier only the developers were held liable for violation of rules, he said.
   Explaining the reasons for seeking more time for the execution of the revised building construction rules, Seraj said employee of the Rajuk have to improve their skills before the new rule is made effective.
   He said that professional bodies like the Institute of Architects could help the Rajuk for a certain period of time as adviser.
   Mahbubur Rahman in his presentation said the new building construction rule has a provision of Floor Area Ratio (FAR) which proved effective in many developed and developing countries.
   Under the rule a person will have to construct a building leaving 50 per cent of the land free to ensure enough open space, he said.
   There is a provision of ‘one window cell’ in the rules which will reduce the time of getting approval from different agencies.
   People will submit their applications for over 16-unit buildings to the ‘one window cell’ which is a body comprising representatives from 17 organisations, he said.
   A high-powered ‘Urban Development Committee’ will also be formed to monitor the work of the ‘one window cell’. People will be able to make their complaints about the cell to the committee, Mahbub added.
   He said this rule will not be applicable to the existing buildings, but if anybody wants to reconstruct their buildings following the rules, they will be able to do that, he said.
   The rules will also ensure the using pattern of every approved building as the owner has to take an occupancy certificate. This certificate will be given for five years and have to be renewed after five years.
   Under the system people will not be allowed to convert their plots for residential use to commercial use without approval.
   Mahtab said the rule will ensure open space, children’s playgrounds and civic amenities.

Speakers at a discussion on Saturday urged members of civil society to come forward to eradicate the deadly disease HIV/AIDS from society.
   Dhaka-based Appropriate Resources for Improving Street Children Environment organised the discussion on ‘health, nutrition, sanitation and HIV/AIDS’ in the conference room of the Social Welfare Department on Kalibari Road in the Barisal city.
   The Voluntary Organization for Social Development sponsored the discussion.
   Dr Md Abdus Sabur, deputy secretary, Social Welfare Ministry, attended the discussion as chief guest while Dr Asraf Uddin Ahmed, HIV/AIDS specialist, was the main speaker.
   Deputy director of the Social Welfare Department of the division AKM Ataur Rahman presided over the function.
   At least 78 slides were projected for gathering knowledge on the deadly disease along with its spreading and remedy.
   The chief guest said people of Bangladesh were at a serious risk as the disease seriously affected the people of the neighbouring countries in the recent times.
   Calling upon civil society, he said all of us have to come under a single banner on this issue to save the nation from the curse of HIV/AIDS.
   Dr Ashraf uddin stressed the need for maintaining the necessary religious instructions and social bindings in preventing from spreading HIV/AIDS through creating mass awareness among the people.
   He said health hazards, poverty and sanitation were responsible for the deadly disease in the under-development countries like Bangladesh.

Students of Dhaka University will observe the first anniversary of death of their fellow Shammi Akhtar Happy, who died in a road accident on her way to the university on May 28, 2005.
   The death of Shammi, a student of psychology, sparked off violent protests on the campus, forcing the authorities to announce the summer vacation much ahead of the schedule.
   The students of psychology department will hold a prayer session for Happy at the department at 10:00am.
   The students planned to visit Happy’s grave in Panchagarh but the departmental head did not agree with the proposal.

Extreme hot weather, compounded with frequent power outages, has made the life of the Rajshahi city dwellers unbearable when there has been no rainfall over 10 days.
   The scorching heat has drastically reduced the attendance in schools and colleges and city people now mostly stay indoors, making the streets deserted at noon.
   Besides, the movement of rickshaw also reduced as pullers flock to rural areas to harvest paddy.
   On Saturday, the highest temperature in Rajshahi was recorded at 37.6 degrees Celsius when it rained only on 10 days in May.
   The Met Office in Rajshahi said the highest temperature was recorded 42.2 degrees Celsius in 2004 and it was 39.8 degrees Celsius in 2005.
   Elderly patients and babies in hospital are worst sufferers as severe power outages continued. The power generator at the hospital has remained out of order for several years.
   The hospital authorities said repair charge of the generator is high and they are unable to run the generator for the high price of diesel.
   Most water bodies in the area have dried up. The Met Office said it recorded an average rainfall of 1,382mm in 2001, 1,447mm in 2002, 1,423mm in 2003, 1,794mm in 2004 and around 1,400mm in 2005.
   The Rajshahi City Corporation said there were 4,283 water bodies in Rajshahi in 1961, 2,271 in 1981, 1,790 in 1991, 729 in 2000 and around 400 in 2003. The filling up of the water bodies goes ob unabated flouting the corporation rules.
   The fire service expressed its concern about the rampant filling up of water bodies in city areas.
   They said as the main sources of water were filled up, they had been facing water crisis at the time of any fire incidents.
   They suggested the city dwellers should build water reservoirs on their own. They also said they were lacking in modern fire fighting equipment. The Public Health Department said the groundwater level also fell in the region drastically.
   Rajshahi University professor of geology and mining Chowdhury Sarwar Zahan Sajal feared that the climate of the region hits at the desertification of the area.

The ex-executives of the Pubali Bank formed the Pubali Bank Ex-Officers’ Association, a release said on Saturday.
   An ad hoc committee was formed with Hamd-uz Zaman Chowdhury as president and Md Jasimuddin as general secretary of the association.

A Young man was found dead, with this throat slit, in a hotel room on the Nawabpur Road in Old Town of Dhaka on Saturday.
   He checked in the Hotel Faruk on Thursday, identifying himself as Chanchal, 30, of Palashpur in Satkhira. The police detained four hotel boys for interrogation.

Thieves broke into the Kajdia branchof the Sonali Bank at Rupsa in Khulna and stole Tk 3 lakh early Saturday.
   The guards were absent at the time of the theft.
   The police arrested the night guard, Zakir Hossain, 26.

Rain or thunder showers accompanied by temporary gusty or squally wind is likely at many places all over Bangladesh expect for Rajshahi division and at a few places over the Rajshahi division with moderately heavy to heavy rainfall at places till 6:00pm today, said the Met Office in a forecast on Saturday.
   Day temperature may remain nearly unchanged. The highest temperature on Saturday, 35.5 degrees Celsius, was recorded in Jessore and the lowest, 22.0 degrees Celsius, in Sylhet.
   The sun sets in the capital city at 6:40pm today and will rise at 5:11am Monday.

Campaign against AIDS on in Rajshahi
A week-long campaign to create awareness on HIV/AIDS was launched in the Rajshahi city. The Centre for Communication and Development has organised the programme from May 22 to observe the International AIDS Candle Light Memorial Day. The organisation brought out a colourful candle procession on the Rajshahi University campus on May 22. Some cultural programes, including baul song, gambhira, were arranged on the occasion. The programme was coordinated by the CCD executive director, Golam Murtuja.

Call for education research allocations
Speakers at a meeting of the eighth educational researchers’ conference for dissemination of research studies on Sunday stressed specific and sufficient budget allocations for research on education. The meeting organised by UNESCO-BAFED research was held at IDB Bhaban in the Dhaka city. Abu Hamid Latif, chairperson of BAFED, presided over the meeting and former Bangladesh Bank governor Mohammad Farashuddin attended the programme as chief guest while Wolfgang Vollmann, UNESCO representative in Bangladesh, delivered the welcome address.
— New Age