Coping with building collapse

Khalilur Rahman | Published: December 08, 2013 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2024 06:01:00

Yet another four-storey under-construction building in the densely populated Ray Shaheb Bazar area in the old part of Dhaka city collapsed last week. The incident that took place early in the morning caused panic among the neighbours. No casualty was, however, reported.
According to eyewitness accounts, at first the building tilted towards the western side and crumbled in the twinkling of an eye. Some neighbours told journalists that the collapsed four-storey building was quickly erected in a month. Normally, as per construction rules, at least a period of three to four weeks is required for consolidation of a newly built roof with adequate watering of the concrete structure. The owner of the building disappeared immediately after its collapse.
The Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha (RAJUK), the lone city development authority, filed a case with Sutrapur Police Station for constructing the building without RAJUK approval. A RAJUK official who visited the site told journalists that gross violation of construction rules resulted in the building collapse. Moreover, materials used in the building were of poor quality. The building had no approved design, press reports said quoting the RAJUK official.
Building collapse at Ray Shaheb Bazar is not an isolated case. Many other high-rise buildings in and around Dhaka city tilted or collapsed in the recent past. In the backdrop of gross irregularities in the construction of buildings violating plans approved by RAJUK, the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) was assigned to conduct drives against the owners early this year.
The ACC, in cooperation with RAJUK, will carry out probe into irregularities in the construction of buildings in Dhaka city. The ACC has initially brought under its watch about 5000 buildings constructed in different city areas violating the RAJUK-approved designs. The objective of the present drive by the anti-graft body is to check such irregularities which have ultimately resulted in unplanned urbanisation. The ACC team is also conducting investigation to detect irregularities by a section of RAJUK officials. The team has already examined papers of about 1500 buildings and conducted a spot survey of about 200 buildings. The ACC team has detected that the RAJUK officials, particularly at field level, did not monitor the construction of those buildings.Â The irregularities in construction have been found to be widespread.
The ACC drive against unauthorised buildings and for realising fines from the owners may help the government earn large sums of money in revenue but will serve little purpose to address the nagging problem of unplanned urbanisation and make the city liveable for the inhabitants. Thousands of small and high-rise buildings have been built or now under construction in the densely-populated city in violation of approved designs. In the absence of proper supervision by RAJUK, the owners of these buildings change their plans at will and carry out construction with impunity. Under the prevailing circumstances, it is not possible to demolish all those unauthorised buildings.
Over the last three decades, Bangladesh has been undergoing rapid urbanisation. This has created mounting pressure on infrastructure and basic services. Four major cities - Dhaka, Chittagong, Rajshahi and Khulna - have 44% of the country's total urban population. And Dhaka alone accommodates 37% of them, according to Professor Hossain Zillur Rahman, a former adviser to caretaker government and executive chairman of PPRC. The main reason behind such urbanization is economy.
Lack of proper supervision by the RAJUK, facing acute staff shortage and other logistics, the building code is followed more in violation than compliance. The size of Dhaka city has expanded considerably over the years making it all the more difficult for RAJUK to supervise the construction of all structures, particularly high-rise buildings. Moreover, the developers are found running after profit and not safety of the buildings they are constructing.
(Therefore, proper implementation of the code can only help minimise damage to life and property in the event of building collapse. E-mail: khalilbdh@gmail.com)