Communication minister of the immediate past government Nazmul Huda exercised influence to bend rules for leasing 4.16 acre land of Bangladesh Railway in the capital without any tender process for constructing a five-star hotel.

Millennium Holdings Ltd was given the land on the west of Tongi Diversion Road in Baro Maghbazar area under a nominal licence fee of Tk 35 per square foot to build Hilton Hotel of the US-based hotel chain giant.

Sources said Huda directly influenced railway officials for leasing the railway land to the Millennium Holdings, which has no experience in construction business and an office of its own, for 60 years

without floating any tender ignoring objections from several subcommittees and Bangladesh Railway Authority members.

"Hilton's presence in Bangladesh will enhance our country's image in the world. Please take necessary action to make it possible for Hilton to establish their hotel in Dhaka," Huda wrote in a note on the Millennium Holdings' application.

Huda, also chairman of Bangladesh Railway Authority, took the initiative to ease the existing railway rules and procedures to complete the leasing process in just six months.

A lease agreement between Bangladesh Railway and the Millennium Holdings was signed on October 19, only eight days before the BNP-led four-party alliance

government handed over power to the caretaker government.

Chief Estate Officer of Bangladesh Railway M Mokbul Ahmed and Managing Director of Millennium Holdings Ltd Mohammad Iqbal signed the agreement.

The railway land lease committee in its note, however, said there is no scope to lease railway land to any organisation without floating tenders. Three other subcommittees also observed the same.

Leasing railway land in this way violates the procedures of the railway laws for leasing land, said

(The ^aily ^tar

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Mir Nasir Hossain, a member of the railway authority. "I did not agree with the way the land was leased to Millennium Holdings Ltd," he said.

A few cases over a part of the land are pending while some plots had already been allocated for two CNG filling stations in other parts, the committees observed. Moreover, the application for allotment of the piece of land was made by Millennium Holdings, not the Hilton authority, they noted.

However, ignoring the observations, Huda said establishing a hotel like Hilton in Dhaka will brighten the image of Bangladesh. "The country as well as the railway will gain in the long run," he said.

On the tender process, he told the committees' meeting that it would not be practical to call tender as there are cases pending over the land and that the Millennium Holdings will settle all disputes over the CNG filling stations and the legal complications.

In the beginning of the leasing process, the railway chief estate officer in his letter to the railway director general said there is no scope to consider the application of the Millennium Holdings.

However, the decision was changed following Huda's interest.

The railway committee recom-

mended taking 3 per cent gross revenue from the hotel authority but finally the revenue was reset at 1.5 per cent. A few other recommendations were also by-passed in the leasing agreement.

While talking to The Daily Star, Chief Estate Officer M Mokbul Ahmed, who once opposed the leasing deal, denied all complaints and said there were no irregularities in the process of allotting the land to the Millennium Holdings.

He, however, admitted that there were differences of opinions over leasing the piece of land to the Millennium Holdings in the beginning. He declined to make any further comments.

Nazmul Huda could not be contacted for comments despite repeated tries.

Millennium Holdings uses the address of Khan Sons Group Ltd, which is located on the 19th floor of Sena Kalyan Bhaban, on its official pad. But Khan Sons staff could not specify the location of Millennium Holdings.

"We established the Millennium Holdings Ltd only for the purpose of business with Hilton," said its MD Mohammad Iqbal. "We do not have any separate office so far. We are recruiting staff for the office which will be established at the construction site later," he said.