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BUILDING CONSTRUCTION

Rigorous checks at all stages sought

STAFF CORRESPONDENT
Engineering experts and architects, in the light of rising pubic concern over building safety, yesterday proposed forming a high-powered regulatory body to rigorously check every stage of building construction in the country.
The proposals came amid a discussion of engineers, architects, academicians and real estate developers at a consultative seminar titled, 'Savar Building Collapse: Possible Causes and Future Course of Action,' organised by the Real Estate & Housing Association of Bangladesh (Rehab).
The Savar building collapse has recently brought to the forefront of public debate the structural vulnerability, due to lax building regulations, of the city's buildings, including their susceptibility to collapse in the event of earthquakes.
Experts say that Bangladesh and some parts of India are possibly overdue for a large earthquake, since such quakes have historically struck every 100 years, with the last great one in the region occurring in 1897. Even a tremor of magnitude five on the Richter scale would instantly topple up to 30 percent of
all buildings in Dhaka, experts recently warned.
In light of such a possible catastrophe, speakers at yesterday's seminar urged the formation of a regulatory body dedicated to the oversight of construction.
"The regulatory body will check every stage of building construction, beginning from the architectural and structural design, to the construction materials and the supervision during the construction process," Engineer SM Kamaluddin, Chairman of Concord Group of Companies, explained. As an alternative, he said, Rehab could either make a set of recommendations to the government concerning the regulatory body or form its own body to check the whole construction process of only Rehab projects.
Likewise, the Bangladesh Garments Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) could also form a body to check the buildings under its purview.
Others suggested forming a high-powered body to use modern technology for identifying vulnerable buildings, which are at risk of collapse from tremor jolts or earthquakes.
Such measures would be a vital corrective to the weak regulatory system of Rajuk, said Kamaluddin, speaking as the seminar's chief guest.
"Our main problem is immorality and dishonesty," he said, citing pervasive bribery in the design approval process administered by government agencies and the discrepancies between design and implementation in the construction process.
Rehab President Dr Toufiq M Seraj said most of the buildings belonging to Rehab members follow the Building Code, but added, "But I am sure some 45 thousand building units added every year, besides some 5 to 6 thousand by Rehab in the city, do not follow the code."
Other experts noted that forty to fifty percent of buildings in the city's most posh areas Gulsha and Baridhara also do not follow the Building Codes.
Seraj suggested that Bangladesh address these problems by following the example of developed countries in using the technology of 'thermal photography' to detect structural vulnerabilities. He also noted that other countries have instituted proper repair systems to strengthen buildings, saying Bangladesh can easily do the same.
The urgency of stricter building oversight was made evident by Lieutenant Colonel Shaheed, assistant to the rescue operation team in the Savar building collapse, and Rehab Senior Vice-president Engineer Md Abdul Awal, whose video presentations suggested a number of causes of the Savar building collapse, including a weak foundation, use of sub-standard brick chips and sand, absence of a soil test, and vibrations caused by heavy machinery.