The government has moved to bring all public and private buildings under the mandatory insurance coverage to reduce the losses caused by disasters, officials said.
A pilot project will be taken soon to expedite the process, they said.
The decision was taken at a recent meeting at the ministry of finance where the officials discussed that most of the public and private commercial and residential buildings across the country remained out of the coverage of insurance.
For this, the property losses in cases of incidents like fires, cyclones, river erosion and floods are staggeringly high.
If the buildings were under the insurance coverage, the losses could have been much lower, the officials argued.
Director of the state-run Insurance Development and Regulatory Authority, or IDRA, Kamrul Hoque Maruf told the meeting that most of the buildings do not come under the insurance coverage due to high premium.
This charge has to be lowered and the insurance coverage has to be made mandatory, he said.
Executive member of the Bangladesh Insurance Forum Imam Shaheen said the premium rate of per square foot is Tk 0.75, which needs to be brought down so that owners of buildings can be motivated.
He said that the Bangladesh Insurance Association and the Bangladesh Insurance Forum can jointly work out a premium rate, which should be considered standard and rational.
Mr Shaheen, chief executive officer of Asia Insurance Co Ltd, suggested the city corporation can verify the buildings, which are out of the coverage while receiving annual registration fees.
A senior home ministry official said at the preliminary stage, multi-storied buildings can be brought under the mandatory insurance coverage.
Joint secretary of the Financial Institutions division Humaun Kobir, who chaired the meeting, said the IDRA has proposed taking steps for making the insurance coverage mandatory for buildings.
He said steps can be taken to launch a pilot project for introducing the mandatory insurance coverage for all buildings.
Mr Kobir asked the IDRA to prepare specific recommendations by holding seminars or workshops in collaboration with the stakeholders to implement the initiative.
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