For eight years now, the upgraded building code has been stuck in an argument between two ministries while building and construction safety in the country goes unchecked, resulting in frequent accidents and earthquake vulnerability.
Since 2008, the Law Ministry's Law and Legislation Division has been pushing back against the Public Works Ministry's efforts to get its draft of Bangladesh National Building Code vetted without the formation of a regulatory body.
The ministry is against a separate body enforcing the building code, despite the laws stipulating a Bangladesh Building Regulatory Authority.
The gazette notification on the building code was issued on November 15, 2006. Later, in 2008, the Public Works Ministry undertook the project “Upgrading of Bangladesh National Building Code,” costing around Tk2.87 crore. At the end of the project the ministry sent a proposal to the Law and Legislation Division for vetting but the division has returned it twice so far.
The division asked the ministry to create a separate building code authority.
Housing and Public Works Minister Eng Mosharraf Hossain told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday different authorities would implement the building code instead of an independent authority.
“These authorities know their work and how to monitor buildings according to their guidelines... It would be time consuming to form a separate authority for the building code,” he said.
According to the Public Works Ministry's meeting minutes, the code is now enforced by the Local Government Division, Rajuk, Chittagong Development Authority, Rajshahi Development Authority and Khulna Development Authority.
The minutes also show that former public works secretary Muhammad Moinuddin Abdullah was unwilling to create the building regulatory authority as per the Legislation Division's insistence.
Experts on the other hand, are advocating for a separate commission to enforce the code. Building code expert and Buet civil engineering Prof Mahedi Ahmed Ansary said: “If bureaucrats control the regulatory body, the building code will not be properly implemented.”