# Bashundhara Group

Bashundhara Group (Bengali: বসুন্ধরা গ্রুপ) is a Bangladeshi conglomerate based in Dhaka.
It was incorporated in 1987 as a real estate company under the name East West Property Development Ltd (EWPD). It presently owns more than 50 major concerns throughout Bangladesh. The company's import-export turnover was $1.12 billion or BDT 111.38 billion in the 2022-23 fiscal year. In the 2018 fiscal year, the company's real estate holdings amounted to BDT 50,000 crores, or $4.6 billion.

## History

Bashundhara Group, founded by Ahmed Akbar Sobhan, began in 1987 as a real estate venture. After its first project, Bashundhara invested in new fields, including manufacturing, industry and trading. More enterprises were established in the early 1990s; these included cement, paper, pulp, tissue paper and steel production, as well as LP Gas bottling and distribution. Bashundhara received permission from the Bangladesh Economic Zones Authority to set up two specialized economic zones in Keraniganj, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
In 2013, Bashundhara invested $181 million in the food sector, producing flour, wheat, red meat, etc.
In 2020, Bashundhara invested $143.7 million to build the largest bitumen plant in Bangladesh. In the same year, Bashundhara became involved in the coal trading market, with a notable example of supply 8 million tonnes of coal to the Rampal coal-fired power plant.
In 2021, Bashundhara invested $909 million to create an oil refinery on 220 acres of land in the Sitakunda upazilla of the country's port city of Chattogram.
In 2022, Bashundhara invested $546 million into creating Bangladesh's first gold refinery on 470 acres of land near the Dhaka-Purbachal highway In the same year, Bashundhara Multi-Steel Industries invested $395 million for phase-1 of a steel manufacturing plant at Bashundhara Industrial Economic Zone at Bangabandhu Shilpa Nagar in Chattogram. The phase-2 investment of $727 million will be initiated in 2025, bringing the company's annual steel production to 3 million tonnes. Later, in 2022, ABG Limited, a concern of Bashundhara group signed an agreement with the Chittagong Stock Exchange to acquire 25% of its shares for BDT 240 crore in line with the country's demutualisation act.
In 2023, Bashundhara Telecommunications Limited submitted a proposal to the Post and Telecommunications division of the country to become a strategic investor of the struggling state owned carrier TeleTalk. The proposal outlines a plan to develop the network, enhance customer service and upgrade the systems of TeleTalk, which has made losses in all but the first two years of its 19-year-existence.

## Enterprises

Bashundhara Group now operates over 50 concerns:
* East West Property Development (Pvt) Limited
* Meghna Cement Mills Limited
* Bashundhara Shipping Lines Limited
* Bashundhara Shipping Limited
* Bashundhara Logistics Limited
* Bashundhara Horticulture Limited
* Bashundhara Chemical Industries Limited
* Bashundhara Trading Company Limited
* Bashundhara International Trade Center Limited
* Bashundhara Multi Trading Limited
* Bashundhara General Trading LLC Dubai
* Bashundhara Employment Services
* Bashundhara Electricity Limited
* Bashundhara Infrastructure Development Limited
* Bashundhara Import Export Limited
* Bashundhara Agricultural Products Limited
* Bashundhara Multi Agricultural Company Limited
* Bashundhara Multi Paper Industries Limited
* Bashundhara Amusement Park Limited
* Bashundhara Oil and Gas Company Limited
* Bashundhara Multipurpose Port Limited
* Bashundhara Textile Mills Limited
* Bashundhara Airways Limited
* Bashundhara Multi Food Products Limited
* Bashundhara Technologies Limited
* Bashundhara Paper Mills Limited
* Bashundhara Fine Paper Limited
* Bashundhara Pulp & Board Mills Limited
* Bashundhara LP Gas Limited
* Bashundhara City Development Limited
* Bashundhara Steel Complex Limited
* Bashundhara Industrial Complex Limited
* Bashundhara Steel And Engineering Limited
* Bashundhara Multi Steel Industries
* Bashundhara Foundation
* Bashundhara Convention Center
* Bashundhara Dredging Company Limited
* Bashundhara Technical Institute
* Bashundhara Telecommunications Network Limited
* Bashundhara Food and Beverage Industries Limited
* Sundarban Industrial Complex Limited
* Bashundhara Cement Industries Limited
* Bashundra Toiletries Limited
* Bashundhara Pre-Fabricated Building Manufacturing Industries
* Dhaka Multi Agricultural Complex Limited
* Sea Real Estate Developers Limited
* East West Media Group
* Bashundhara Kings
* Rangpur Riders
* Kebab Turki Baba Rafi (Bangladesh)
* Toggi Services Limited
* Bir Cement Limited

## Bashundhara City

Bashundhara City (Bengali: বসুন্ধরা সিটি) is a shopping mall in Dhaka. Construction began in 1998; Mohammad Foyes Ullah and Mustapha Khalid Palash of Vistara designed the building. Opened to the public on 6 August 2004, the mall is located at Panthapath, near Karwan Bazar, in Dhaka city and cost over $100 million to complete. Bashundhara City is 21 stories tall, of which 8 are used for the mall, which houses fashion houses and jewelry shops, as well as around 100 food outlets.
The mall has experienced two fires. The first fire occurred on March 13, 2009, resulting in the deaths of 7 people and injuries to 20 others. The second incident, which took place in 2016, did not result in any casualties.

## Media ventures

In 2009, the group launched East West Media Group Ltd., which now operates several major media outlets in Bangladesh. These include two television channels, one FM radio station, an online newspaper, and three print media publications.
The Bengali-language national daily newspapers owned by East West Media Group are Kaler Kantho and Bangladesh Pratidin. The group also publishes the English-language newspaper Daily Sun. Additionally, the online news portal banglanews24.com provides content in both Bengali and English.
The television channels owned by the group include News24 and T-Sports, while Radio Capital is its FM radio station.