The forced evacuation of 60,000 skilled construction workers from Libya could a major impact on the Bangladesh economy, says one of the country’s leading building experts.
Migrant workers in the Middle East return $7.22 billion per annum to the Bangladesh economy and are one of the country’s major investors in real estate.
MA Baten Khan, managing director of developer Building Design and Developments (BDDL) told national newspaper The Daily Star that he feared their return could hold back investment into land development.
“If the number of returnees from the Middle East increases, land sales will be affected. Because this group of remitters is the main client of lands across the country,” said Khan.
Conversely the country’s workforce has now been boosted by increase in construction equipment skills, said Tanveerul Haque Probal, managing director of Building for Future.
“These skilled and semi skilled workers can save our money that we spend to hire construction labourers from abroad,” he said. “Some positive things will happen now. We lack skilled construction workers who can handle high tech equipment. Now that problem can be solved if some of these workers join the local industry.”
According to Mohammad Farhaduzzaman of developer Eastern Housing land sales may fall by 10% in the capital Dhaka and its neighboring districts such as Gazipur and Mymensingh.