Bashundhara City

Bashundhara City
General information
Location Panthapath, Dhaka, Bangladesh
Opening 6 August 2004
Technical details
Floor count Mall: 8
Office: 19
Other information
Number of stores 2325 shops including 100 food courts.[1]
Number of anchors 9
Parking 500 cars
Website
www.bashundhara-city.com

Bashundhara City (Bengali: বসুন্ধরা সিটি) is a shopping mall in Dhaka, and the second largest shopping mall in Bangladesh. Opened to the public on 6 August 2004, the mall located in Panthapath, near Kawran Bazar. Bashundhara City is a 19 floor building complex covering an area of 191200 sqft comprising an 8 floor podium containing retail spaces, theme Park, cinemas, fitness club, swimming pool and food court with a 19-storey Corporate Office of Bashundhara Group.

The mall has space for 2,325 retail stores and cafeterias and has a large underground gymnasium, a multiplex cinema, a top-floor food court, an ice skating rink, and a theme park. The fully air-conditioned shopping mall with rooftop gardens is considered a modern symbol of the emerging city of Dhaka. Bashundhara City is one of the largest shopping malls in South Asia: up to 50,000 people visit daily.[2]

It is the first modern mall in the city, designed by the principal architect Mustapha Khalid Palash and Mohammad Foyez Ullah of Vistaara.

Construction

Construction started in 1998 under Shafiat Sobhan vice-chairman Bashundhara Group. The cost of the building was more than $100 million.[3]

2009 fire

On 13 March 2009, the top floors of the Bashundhara City complex caught on fire. The blaze started around 1:30 pm, after Friday prayers, on one of the top floors.[4] Most of the offices were empty, as Friday is the first day of the weekend in Bangladesh. A security guard died as he jumped off the top of the building to escape the fire. Seventeen others were injured. The chief security officer of the building was rescued from the roof top by a Bangladesh Air Force Bell-212 helicopter.[5]

Later on the same day, reports stated the death of three more people – found in an elevator by a group of Fire Fighters. Fifty people were injured – most of them treated for smoke inhalation. The fire took six hours to be brought under control due to the summer winds.[6][7] It attracted thousands of onlookers outside the complex from Panthapath to Hatirpool, causing heavy traffic.[4]

Minister of Home Affairs Tanjim Ahmad Sohel ordered a three-member committee to review the incident. He proclaimed the damaged was caused because of the lack of fire-protection equipment during the time of the incident.[8] The city mayor, Sadeque Hossain Khoka, ordered all the fire services in the capital to the scene with 15 fire trucks, and ordered the army personnel for their assistance.[9][10]

The fire was extinguished after nearly 10 hours. Most of the victims who died were employees; and most of the shoppers were unharmed.[11] The mall was closed for two days and was once again opened to the public on 16 March. According to the mall authorities, damages reached Tk2 billion (US$29m).[12]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Prime minister opens Basundhara City". Bashundhara Group. Archived from the original on 28 September 2007.
  2. ↑ "About Bashundhara City". Bashundhara City. Retrieved 30 June 2016.
  3. ↑ "Bashundhara City, Bangladesh's first world-class shopping mall, awaits opening next month". Bashundhara Group. 18 July 2004. Archived from the original on 28 September 2007.
  4. 1 2 "Bashundhara City turns towering inferno". bdnews24.com. 13 March 2009.
  5. ↑ "Fire hits Dhaka shopping center". BBC News. 13 March 2009. Retrieved 13 March 2009.
  6. ↑ "Fire kills 4 at vast Bangladesh shopping mall". CBC News. Associated Press. 13 March 2009.
  7. ↑ Hossain, Farid (13 March 2009). "Fire at Bangladesh's Largest Mall Kills 7". ABC News. Archived from the original on 27 March 2009. Retrieved 20 March 2009.
  8. ↑ "At Least 7 Dead in Bangladesh Mall Fire". CBS News. Associated Press. 13 March 2009.
  9. ↑ "One dead, 11 injured in shopping mall fire". Gulf Times. Agence France-Presse. 13 March 2009. Archived from the original on 27 March 2009. Retrieved 13 March 2009.
  10. ↑ Hossain, Farid (13 March 2009). "Fire at Bangladesh's largest mall kills 7". CNEWS. Associated Press. Archived from the original on 27 March 2009.
  11. ↑ "Fire crews conquer Dhaka mall fire". Al Jazeera English. 13 March 2009. Retrieved 13 March 2009.
  12. ↑ "Bashundhara mall to open to public tomorrow". The Daily Star. 15 March 2009. Archived from the original on 16 March 2009.

Further reading

  • "Probe begins, PM visits Bashundhara". The Daily Star. 15 March 2009.

Coordinates: 23°45′4.71″N 90°23′26.28″E / 23.7513083°N 90.3906333°E / 23.7513083; 90.3906333

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