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Modhumoti Model Town

Realtor silent, clients worried

Staff Correspondent
Now nobody picks up the phone at the Metromakers office, Kutub Uddin said in frustration. “They said they had all the permissions and approvals. I am really frustrated now,” Kutub, an assistant professor of Dhaka University, said.
“I had personally talked to lawyers and they said there was no chance of approval for this project. Don't know what to do at this moment,” he said.
Kutub was talking about the fate of his Modhumoti plot after the Supreme Court dismissed clients' rights on the illegal Modhumoti Model Town housing project, which Metromakers owns.
Kutub had bought a 10-katha plot in Modhumoti Model Town, Aminbazar, in 2001. Over 3,000 plot owners like Kutub had rushed to Modhumoti Model Town to buy a piece of land on the outskirts of the capital when the plots went on sale.
Many, who had bought plots, yesterday went to Metromakers office on Green Road with queries about their plots and what would happen now. Il seemed some got to know about the court verdict.
“An employee named Mozammel assured them that they would fix the problem,” said Mizanur Rahman, a computer engineer who got a three-katha plot in Block-O of Modhumoti Model Town.
The company's attempts to confuse people are still on. They are even saying that plot owners could have their money back if they wanted to since the company would be able to resell the piece of land at a higher price, said Mizanur.
“I paid around Tk 9 lakh for my three-katha plot but Metromakers is saying that it was Tk 48 lakh now even though the apex court cancelled my rights to the land,” Mizanur said.
Syeda Rizwana Hasan, chief executive of Bangladesh Environment and Lawyers Association, told The Daily Star that the people who bought land in the project would not be able to build anything on their plots. People should be careful about illegal housing projects and not invest in them, she said.
“The clients should know about the legal status of a project before investing their money,” said Rizwana.
Iqbal Kabir Lytton, a lawyer of BELA, said the land developer was legally bound to give back its client's money. “The Supreme Court’s judgment regarding the matter would be clear when we would get the full judgment,” said Iqbal.
Hundreds of people were lured into buying plots of the housing project with its flashy advertisements. On its website, the authorities claimed that they had developed the land on a “flood-free zone”, which was not true.
They were destroying the environment by filling up wetlands and filling up portions of the Turag river. On their website, however, they were claiming that Dhaka was being given back
its former glory.
When the Modhumoti authorities submitted their documents before the court, the documents said that they had sold around 3,500 plots they made up by filling up over 500 acres of subflood flow area.
They had divided their project area in attractive names like Garden Park
Lake View, New Valley, Sunny Side, South Lake Side, South Side and plots were available in 2.5, 3, 3.5, 5, 6, 7 and in lOkathas.
The authorities of the Modhumoti sold plots even when the case was under trial.
Like Kutub, The Daily Star too failed to reach Modhumoti authorities to have comments on the matter.