LGED bid to frame separate bldg construction rules turned down

An inter-ministerial meeting recently turned down a proposal of framing separate building construction rules for the areas under the Local Government Engineering Department (LGED), officials said.
The LGED had earlier sent a proposal to the Ministry of Housing and Public Works (MoHPW) seeking separate building construction rules for their areas.
The MoHPW officials said it is they who are responsible for framing any building rules as per Building Construction Act 1952 but if the LGED moves for framing such rules, there would be a dual policy and it would create more complexities.
According to sources, the first building construction rules were framed in the year 1996 under the 1952 act and later there were amendments to the rules in 2008 made by RAJUK (Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha) under the MoHPW.
They said RAJUK framed rules on the basis of urban housing and the rules were not appropriate for the areas under local government and other administrative authorities.
The LGED wants to formulate its own rules with support from the MoHPW and other agencies, they added.
An official at the Public Works Department (PWD) said if the LGED frames its own rules, it would complicate the building construction rules across the country and hamper implementation of the national building codes.
The PWD official said a lot of matters are yet to be addressed in forming a national building code regulatory authority and there is mismanagement in getting building approval plans and designs in the 'freestyle practice' adopted by different agencies and departments.
He said, "I agree that the existing rules are not friendly for the areas under LGED and other municipality areas; so there are must be some changes."
He said though changes are needed, these should be under the MoHPW as per the National Building Code 2006.
The official said the government has already failed to act as per a High Court (HC) order of forming a national building regulatory authority.
According to the HC order, in the year 2010 there was a directive for the MoHPW to form a regulatory authority by 2011.
But the government failed to form it within the timeframe and three years have already passed with no move until now.
An official at the MoHPW expressed fear that if the LGED frames new rules for their areas of coverage, those would complicate systems in approving plans and designs among the government's different departments and agencies.
When contacted, deputy secretary of the LGED Khalilur Rahman said, "We have formally sought help from the MoHPW to frame rules in an inter-ministerial meeting a few weeks back but we were not encouraged by the officials from other ministries."
He said the LGED is currently working on some recommendations which were available in the inter-ministerial meeting and they will make their decisions in the next meeting.
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