On March 28 this year, the nation witnessed one of the worst fires in a high-rise building.
The fire at FR Tower stood out from other fires by virtue of being located in the upscale neighbourhood of Banani and offering floor space to corporations, and thus expected to be more compliant with safety regulations.
As the 28 victims of the FR Tower fire were buried, the investigations unearthed that the building violated the approved designs. FR Tower was not the only building with design violations; its neighbouring high-rise buildings were all culpable for violating safety or design codes, like many other high-rise buildings in Dhaka.
Violations
An extensive and rigorous citywide sweep by the Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha (Rajuk) has revealed that of 1,818 high-rise buildings in Dhaka, 207 were not approved, and 475 had no papers to show.
And among the 1,136 buildings approved, their construction violated the original designs. Additional floors were constructed in 277 buildings. Many other violations were reported in 674 cases.
According to the Bangladesh National Building Codes, any building of or exceeding 33 metres in height is considered a high-rise.
In a jarring display of oversight, the buildings without Rajuk approval were approved by other government agencies, as 32 violated permitted heights and 64 others were noted to have committed numerous violations.
An alarming lack of fire fighting equipment was noted in 1,155 buildings, and 566 have no emergency exit. There are 721 buildings who had the fire exit made elsewhere, violating the approved designs.
In line with these violations, there are 124 buildings rented out for residential use despite having only commercial permissions. And in 49 buildings, the inspection team saw commercial activities despite being residential complexes. To top it off, 309 buildings repurposed their parking space.
According to a Rajuk official, the FR Tower’s neighbouring Ahmed Tower stands 27 storeys tall despite having a 23-storey permission. Rajuk found the four additional storeys had a dedicated lift shaft cut off from the rest of the buildings as well.
The nearby Safura Tower also constructed two additional floors on top of its approved 14 storeys. Ataturk Tower was permitted to use three lower floors as commercial space and the top 10 floors as residential. But it has been using eight floors for commercial purposes.
Is it finally time for action?
Now, Rajuk claims they are going to take strict action against illegally built high-rise buildings, and will be going through a legal process against illegally constructed high-rise buildings. It has already sent notices to the owners and will take action after receiving the responses.
Rajuk officials said if building owners rectify their buildings, they will get approval from Rajuk and escape legal action or punishment.
Rajuk Chairman Dr Sultan Ahmed told Dhaka Tribune: “If they fail to play by the rules, we will follow through with legal action.”
What do the rules say?
According to Section 29 of Dhaka Metropolitan Building Construction Rules, 2008, authority may stop construction, and warn construction according to the design, and can demolish the structure if any violation of the design is found at any stage,or if the structure poses any risk to nearby life, property and environment.
Authority can cancel the approval if any violation or any unauthorized change of the design is found. In such a situation, authority will inform utility providers to stop providing service to the violating buildings.
Article 37 describe the activity of a committee named “Nagar Unnayan Committee,” which can inspect or examine the construction by professional personnel at any time. If the officials fail to identify the fault during the construction, then the committee recommends punishment for the officials for their negligence and authority must punish them according to the recommendations.
According to the rules, every high-rise building must keep empty space of 1.5 metres in the front, and three meters on the other sides.
Exemplary punishment
Iqbal Habib, architect and joint secretary of Bangladesh Poribesh Andolon, said garments factories have made the necessary changes as they were afraid of losing foreign buyers.
He said:“More than 70% of the buildings violated the design according to the Rajuk. Most buildings have a chance to rectify, but some are irredeemable due to severe error. The authorities must be stern and enforce the rules.”
He said authorities, owners and technical staff of the construction are all responsible, and must be punished in order to set examples for others.
