Written by The Banking Post
Bangladesh’s real estate sector is facing a standstill as RAJUK’s digital permitting system has remained offline for nearly three months following a major hacking incident.
The Electronic Construction Permitting System (eCPS), suspended on May 20 after hackers secured illegal approval for a 15-storey building in a restricted wetland zone, has yet to be restored. Police later arrested three suspects in connection with the attack.
Since then, developers have been unable to obtain design approvals or land-use clearances, stalling hundreds of projects. Industry insiders estimate that more than 1,400 approvals have been lost, delaying construction of as many buildings and leaving nearly 43,000 workers — from engineers to day labourers — without jobs.
The paralysis has rippled across more than 300 allied industries, from cement and steel to tiles and paints, disrupting the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of workers.
“We have sought technical solutions from the Bangladesh Computer Council. If necessary, we may revert to manual approvals,” a senior RAJUK official said.
Developers, however, say their businesses are at a breaking point. “Considering the industry’s situation, REHAB has written to the RAJUK chairman,” said Liakat Ali Bhuiyan, senior vice-president of the Real Estate and Housing Association of Bangladesh. While the server was briefly reopened after their appeal, file processing has yet to resume, with RAJUK officials citing manpower shortages.
This is not the first setback. In December 2023, nearly 30,000 files reportedly went missing from the eCPS server after another hacking attack, a case that eventually reached the High Court. Many clients remain uncertain whether their documents were ever recovered.
Frustrated developers said they failed to meet the RAJUK chairman last Sunday despite repeated requests. Representatives of 25 leading firms warned they would wait until August 20, as earlier assured, before launching demonstrations if the deadlock continues.
