Real estate needs a facelift to stand by the consumers as a true service provider to drive growth of the sector, a Dhaka University teacher said yesterday.

“Along with other challenges, including scarcity and spiraling prices of lands and lack of utility connections to new commercial and residential projects, I think one of the main challenges for the sector is lack of trust among consumers,” said Syed Ferhat Anwar.

Anwar spoke at a roundtable, "Real estate sector: challenges and opportunities" at the Bay's Galleria in Dhaka.

Bangladesh Brand Forum in association with Real Estate and Housing Association of Bangladesh (REHAB) organised the event.

Consumers often complain of harassments by the developers while getting delivery of flats in time, Anwar said, adding that some developers are also blamed for not providing the promised product to their buyers.

Sometimes consumers have to go to the court to solve these issues that takes a heavy toll on their patience and money, he said.

As the association of developers, REHAB should monitor these irregularities and take actions accordingly, he said.

“REHAB has to give the feeling of a reliable service provider to its consumers, although it may not have any authority to take legal actions against the accused developers,” said Anwar.

Ashraf Kaiser, managing director of Benchmark Ltd, urged REHAB to take necessary steps to create a reliable and trustworthy relationship between the consumer and developers.

Murad Iqbal Chowdhury, general secretary of REHAB, said the association set up a Customer Complain Cell last year to get complaints from customers and take actions to solve them mutually.

Chowdhury said they have received some complaints that are diverse and difficult in nature. "But we are trying our best to settle them mutually in shortest possible time.”

The cell has so far solved 562 of the 1,400 complaints it received in 2011, he said.

Tanveerul Haque Probal, managing director of Building for Future Ltd, highlighted a number of challenges the sector is facing now.

“Along with all existing problems, we are also burdened with unrealistic government policies," he said.

Probal was critical of the government law that mandates at least 3 percent of total electricity consumption of residential buildings and 7 percent of commercial buildings should be fulfilled by solar power.

The cost of installing solar power systems is high, and the batteries that are used to store power can be hazardous to health, he said.

He recommended not using these solar systems in urban cities because of space constraints.

Enayetur Rahman, deputy director of the Board of Investment, and FR Khan, managing director of Bangladesh Technologies and Ideas Ltd, also spoke.