Govt fails to comply with HC order

Shamsul Huda | Published: April 13, 2014 00:00:00 | Updated: April 13, 2014 23:34:56

The government has failed to follow a High Court (HC) order to set up an authority to enforce the national building code.
The HC in its 2010 judgement asked the government to establish an authority to enforce the building code within a year. Almost three years have already gone by since the HC passed the order but the government is yet to carry out the order.
A contempt of court rule was also issued against the government for not establishing the authority.
The government had drawn the Bangladesh National Building Code (BNBC) in 1993. In the initial chapter of the code it is said that the government must form an implementing authority to monitor whether the code is being followed or not in the designs as well as construction of the buildings.
An official in the ministry of housing and public works blamed the "lack of awareness" and "absence of coordination" among various government departments and agencies as major reasons behind not setting up the implementing authority.
He said, "The government verbally told the relevant agencies and departments to work towards forming an implementation committee but nothing was given in writing to us regarding formation of the authority".
As per the existing code, the ministry of housing and public works was supposed to establish a high-powered authority that would monitor designs, drawings and construction of building in both private and public sectors.
Another official said "waiting for updating of the existing code' was also a factor behind the delay.
As a result of the absence of the mechanism to enforce the building code, approval of designs and drawings are taking place at random in areas under Rajuk, development authorities and municipalities.
The situation is the worst in the municipalities as there is no particular rules and regulations in providing building design approvals and even in many cases buildings are being constructed without taking approval from the authorities.
Following the frequent collapse of buildings under the municipality areas in the last couple of years the government has formed committees to monitor designs, drawings and construction work.
The committees under the leadership of the deputy commissioners of the districts include people from Public Works Department (PWD), Local Government Engineering Department (LGED) and others.
Monitoring bodies are also absent in Rajuk, Chittagong Development Authority (CDA), Khulna Development Authority (KDA) and Rajshahi Development Authority (RDA).
Two officials of joint secretary rank in the ministry of housing and public works admitted to FE that there was still no headway in the effort to form monitoring committees headed by the deputy commissioners for municipalities, upazilas and districts.
In the committees there are no architects, engineers and some terms are yet to be made clear, they added.
A deputy commissioner under Dhaka division said, "We are in trouble in monitoring designs and giving approvals as there is no clarification of 'tall buildings' in the directives that I received from the ministry."
He said Rajuk and other development authorities have their own standards and they have professionals to oversee the technical matters.
He said, "But at district levels there are scarcity of professional engineers and the government's newly established monitoring body is yet to be made fully functional."
A superintending engineer in the public works department said the absence of building code monitoring authority and the ongoing system of design approval would only invite more disasters like the Rana Plaza.
He said formation of the monitoring committee headed by deputy commissioner for each district is an interim arrangement by the government until a central national building code monitoring authority is set up.
He said though there is no specific definition for high rise buildings in the DC-headed committees but as per the update of the existing building code the definition of high rise is "buildings above ten stories."
The official said the building code update is likely to be made available to the public by June this year.