A model of a project of Building Technology and Ideas (BTI) Ltd, a real estate company. Photo: BTI

Building Technology and Ideas (BTI) Ltd, a leading real estate company, has undertaken a construction project at a cost of Tk 100 crore.
BTI is constructing the complex, named Premier Plaza, consisting of five towers with both residential and commercial spaces, over a land of 68-katha in Dhaka. Off Pragati Sharani, the 14-storey towers have a combined 117 apartments, ranging from 1,007 square feet to 2,303 square feet.
The first three floors of the project will be used for commercial purposes, the ground and basement for car parking, the fourth will be common to all for recreation and the remaining floors (5th-13th) are marked for residential purposes. The complex will have a 156-car parking facility.
"The construction of the project has already begun. We have so far invested Tk 25 crore in it," said a BTI official. He also said the apartments would be ready for handover by 2012.
BTI will formally announce the project on February 14, Valentine's Day, with attractive gifts for raffle draw winners for the first-day clients. However, work began in July 2007, said Rumana Malik, an architect of BTI.
The location chosen for the project was initially a ditch. The company had developed it for construction. The company, established in 1984, has so far handed over 2,000 apartments to customers.
"Of the total 49,000 square feet land, there will be 33,000 square feet of space on each floor. The rest of the space will be used as playgrounds, open to sky spaces and walkways," said AKM Sahadat Hossain, general manager (sales) of BTI.
Dwellers will enjoy the benefits of a good location, near the diplomatic areas of the capital, the US Embassy and the under-construction Jamuna Future Park, touted as the biggest shopping mall in Asia, project officials said.
Describing other features of the site, officials said though the buildings will be segmented from each other, all the roofs of the towers would be attached. This will allow the residents to use the rooftop space for common purposes, such as jogging.
The buildings will also have a helipad on the rooftop, officials claimed. Each building will be also equipped with lifts, fire escape, gardens, prayer rooms and a gymnasium.
"Though the first three floors of the project will be dedicated for commercial purposes, we have decided not to sell those initially. This is because we want to wait for a few years to study what type of businesses best suits the location," the BTI official said.
Hossain said: "Commercial space in the project won't tread on the privacy of residents. There will be separate entrance points for the commercial and residential floors and inhabitants will not be able to enter the other floors except through the main entry points."
Project officials claimed that the buildings would be able to absorb earthquakes of a magnitude of 8 on the Richter scale and wind speeds of 200 kilometre per hour.
According to an estimate, the prices of each apartment will range from Tk 55 lakh to Tk 1.20 crore.