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DOWN TO EARTH

Steady growth of residential hotels in Dhaka city

ASM NURUNNABI
Residential hotels have mushroomed in the city mainly due to a large number of new arrivals looking for temporary accommodation in the bustling metropolis while hunting for jobs. This is however a fairly recent phenomenon. Not too long ago, the demand for hotels was much smaller than it is now, but the situation has undergone a radical change over the past few years and the city is now dotted with such establishments giving rise to a booming hotel business.
According to sources at Dhaka City Corporation (DCC), the number of licenced residential hotels runs into a few hundred, but the number of unregistered hotels is said to be more than a thousand. These hotels are mainly of three types: low standard, medium standard and a fairly tolerable standard.
The low standard hotels are mainly located near bus terminals, railway stations and wholesale markets. The rent is pretty cheap in such hotels, which are located mainly in Kamalapur, Jatrabari, Saidabad, Fakirapool, Sadarghat, Islampur, Gulistan and Nawabpur areas. Boarders at these hotels are mostly truck drivers, small traders and poorly educated job hunters. These hotels are often very dirty and rooms are very small.
The medium standard hotels cost between Tk 300 and Tk 800 per day. These hotels are found at Motijheel, Rajarbagh, Malibagh, Topkhana Road, Bijoynagar, Mohakhali and Farmgate. According to police, many of these hotels cater to sex trade run by prostitution rings and also serve as dens of criminals including drug traffickers. A syndicate of gangsters and hotel owners, managers, room attendants and busboys is said to run such illegal businesses backed by influential people who pull the strings from behind the scene. Also, police have covert supportin these shady activities.
Although the customers of such hotels are mostly ordinary middle class and law-abiding citizens, there are also a large number of boarders who are professional middlemen arranging passports, overseas jobs through recruiting agencies or to get some job done at government offices through 'connections'. There are a number of regular boarders who stay for months together at these hotels that serve as their business offices.
The demand for such hotels is very high indeed and the 'no vacancy' sign is up most of the time.
Apart from that, there are some good hotels in the city with nice rooms and services but their rents are quite high.
Finally, there are a few posh hotels including the famous Sonargaon and Sheraton -- the two five-star hotels in the city. More such hotels are being planned to encourage tourism.
Observers feel that the DCC should take the initiative to enforce a minimum acceptable standard at all hotels in the city. Also, the law enforcement agencies must cramp down on illegal activities centring round these establishments for healthy growth of the hotel industry.