The BPC took the decision as the motel has been running without any profit at a rented place at the Chittagong New Railway Station Building for the last two months.

Abul Kashem, General Manager (Works) in Dhaka, said to construct Motel Saikat, a modern shopping mall cum three-star hotel, the BPC has floated a tender in early July.

He said the lessee will give the BPC a yearly premium from their profit.

"We were compelled to seek private investment as we did not get adequate response from the businessmen against selling of the complex space," Kashem said.

The BPC is refunding Tk 19 lakh to 22 businessmen, who bought spaces in the complex, sources added.

The BPC shifted its activities to the Chittagong New Railway Station Building after demolishing the previous complex at Station Road. But it could not attract tourists, local and foreign, due to lack of sufficient facilities.

Motel Saikat now has a sale of Tk 1 lakh to Tk 1.40 lakh a month without any profit, whereas it had a profit of over Tk 3 lakh a month at the old complex.

Earlier, the government used to earn revenue as Value Added Tax (VAT) from its income, they said.

BPC now spends around Tk 70,000 only for rent and bills for utility services a month, excluding salaries of the employees.

To implement the project on its own, BPC advertised in different dailies for space booking in the Saikat Complex with poor response.

The authorities sold 426 forms for over 260 possessions, with only 19 of them responded positively and showed interest.

BPC took a project of Tk 82.55 crore, scheduled to be completed by 2006, to provide world-class services to the tourists and promote tourism in the port city.

Fate of the project became uncertain when the authorities demolished the four-storied motel complex immediately after the foundation stone was laid on April 19 in 2004.

The motel now runs with only 14 rooms without any modern facility. The motel has only two air-conditioned rooms. The motel charges Tk 1000 for each air-conditioned (AC) room and Tk 500 for non-AC room.

Besides, uninterrupted power supply and restaurant facilities discourage local and foreign tourists to come here, said a BPC staff on condition of anonymity.

The proposed eight-storied complex on one acre of land is to house a huge car parking lot, shops and departmental stores and bank and insurance offices on first third floors, tourist information centre, a 300-seat hall room and 200-seat restaurant, including swimming pool and bar, on the fourth floor and residential hotel of three-star standard for the tourists on fifth, sixth and seventh floors.