Dhaka city's vulnerability to fires and blasts came to the fore once again, after three recent incidents rocked the city within the span of weeks. According to media reports, there were 13,726 fires in industrial and commercial establishments between 2020 and 2022. The number includes cases of fires caused by boiler explosions or gas leaks. At least 256 people died in those incidents, and of them 13 were firefighters killed in industrial fires. The fires also caused losses worth at least Tk291 crore.
There are enough rules and regulations in place to ensure the safety of these establishments, but fires and explosions are occurring one after another due to a serious lack of enforcement and monitoring by government agencies.
This is ultimately causing serious harm to the people's lives and properties. After each incident, fingers are pointed at the building and factory owners, but experts say the government agencies responsible for looking after the safety of establishments should be held equally accountable for their failure to monitor them.
The government agencies must be held responsible. Time has come to evaluate the responsibilities of the regulators.
Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha (RAJUK) is the major body responsible for development, planning, controlling and monitoring the development of Dhaka city. At present RAJUK has the legal machinery to control the land use and growth of the city.
RAJUK provides planning permission and uses clearance as per the Mohanagar Imarat Nirman Bidhimala (2008) which replaced the Mohanagar Imarat Nirman Bidhimala (2007).
Other service providers such as Wasa, Titas, and Desco cannot provide services to the building without proper approval from RAJUK.
Transparency International Bangladesh's (TIB) study on corruption at RAJUK stated that there is no updated data on the total number of buildings in Dhaka city. However, according to a survey carried out by RAJUK on 2,04,106 buildings during the period of January 2018 to July 2018, a total of 1,95,376 buildings were built before, while 1,31,583 of the buildings -- which is 65% of the total building surveyed -- had deviations.
Among the 8,730 buildings under construction, 3,342 buildings had deviations from the approved plans (RAJUK, 2019). Among the 3,273 high-rise buildings, RAJUK has information on 2,818 buildings, out of which 70% of buildings have no fire safety measures, and 33% of buildings have no alternative stairs to evacuate during fire incidents. Out of the rest, 67% of the buildings that have alternative stairs, 34% are not usable according to RAJUK.
Legalizing illegal construction
In this backdrop, the government has taken the initiative to legalize about 3,50,000 illegal buildings, constructed without permission or in breach of conditions, through fines. Even a policy is being made to determine the process of legalizing illegal buildings through fines.
The Ministry of Housing and Public Works formed a committee of 12 members on January 31 to legalize illegal buildings. Additional Secretary of the Ministry (Administration Division-1) has been made convenor.
It is said that a 12-member committee has been made to formulate a draft rule for legalizing buildings constructed without the authority's approval or violating the terms and conditions as per the recommendations of the Dhaka Metropolitan Area Plan (2022-2035).
The committee has been given the responsibility to draft rules regarding the application for validating a building constructed without approval from the authorities or in case of a violation of the conditions given at the time of approval, they must determine the fee and penalty.
According to BNBC (Bangladesh National Building Code) if the building is structurally safe, they will be legalized with fines. The government has reportedly taken this initiative as per the recommendations of the new Detailed Area Plan or DAP (2022-2035).
Other countries have suffered enormous consequences for legalizing illegally built buildings. Thousands of illegal buildings are legalized through fines in Turkey. Many of these huge unsafe properties were destroyed in the recent earthquake, resulting in the loss of thousands of lives.
Researchers and experts have been warning that Bangladesh is at risk of major earthquakes, given the occurrence of smaller earthquakes in the past few years. In this situation, urban experts feel that it is necessary to consider whether Bangladesh is also following the path of Turkey by legalizing illegal buildings.
Who can we hold accountable?
The officials of the Ministry of Housing and Public Works and RAJUK said that 90 to 95 percent of the buildings in Dhaka are built without following the rules and having gross deviation.
It is not possible for a country like Bangladesh to demolish such a large number of buildings, no matter how dangerous they are. Therefore, there is no option but to make illegal buildings as risk-free as possible through fines and renovations.
Nonetheless, legalizing illegal buildings through fines is a big challenge.
According to the “Dhaka Metropolitan Buildings (Construction, Development, Preservation and Removal) Rules, 2008” (Building Rules), there are provisions for the removal of structures constructed without permission or in violation of the conditions of approval.
That is, according to the current law, there is no opportunity to legalize the establishment through fines while maintaining any kind of violation of the rules.
The enforcement of laws to legalize any kind of risky construction only in return for fines may also pose a threat to the livability of the city and may possibly result in the loss of life and property.
MS Siddiqui is Non-Government Adviser, Bangladesh Competition Commission.