Land Minister Saifuzzaman Chowdhury on Sunday blamed the real estate companies for abnormal rise in land price.
The minister also said that the government is not any competitor of the real estate businesses rather it has been playing its role of the facilitator and regulator.
"But the government must avail the opportunity where it is untapped," he added.
He made the remarks when real estate businesses identified high land price and construction material costs as the impediments for the development of the housing sector.
The minister was speaking as the chief guest at a seminar on ‘Challenges of Real Estate in Urbanisation and Decentralisation ‘ at a city hotel.
Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCI) organised the seminar.
In his speech, DCCI president Osama Taseer said that land price in various areas of Dhaka including Gulshan and Baridhara has gone up three times over the decade.
"The price of construction materials has also increased 2.5 times which are major impediments for the development of the sector," the DCCI president said.
Real Estate and Housing Association of Bangladesh (REHAB) president Alamgir Shamsul Alamin said that the government acquired the land in some places at the rate of Tk 2,000 per decimal in 1963.
"But now it sells per katha at Tk 20 million to the private sector developers," he said, questioning the fairness of governement's policy in selling lands at such high prices.
