Red tape stymies bldg retrofitting

Confusion over the disbursement of funds for retrofitting some of the most essential buildings of the capital has mired this ‘priority project’ of the government in red tape for years.
These buildings, including the Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH), the Fire Service and Civil Defence (FSCD) headquarters and the Secretariat, were found vulnerable to moderate tremors in March 2010 after a government probe committee, tasked with identifying the risky buildings of the capital, submitted its report.

Incidentally, sufficient manpower with expertise to start the retrofitting work has been readied under a Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) technical cooperation project, titled ‘Capacity Development on Natural Disaster-Resistant Techniques of Construction and Retrofitting for Public Buildings (CNCRP)’, in collaboration with the public works department (PWD).
Under this Tk. 25.15-crore project (of which JICA is providing Tk. 23.38 crore), several PWD engineers have received training in retrofitting the pubic buildings, but a lack of funding for doing the actual work has made such training a futile exercise so far.
Abdul Malek Sikdar, former additional chief engineer and project director of the CNCRP project, told The Independent that their project has been successful. “We ran the project for four years from 2011 to June 2015, and the goal of the project—which was to train manpower for retrofitting—was met.”
He, however, added that under the CNCRP project, they retrofitted the Tejgaon fire station building in July 2014 to make it earthquake-resistant under a pilot project to set an exemplar.
“The actual work—retrofitting the buildings—is, however, outside the ambit of the work of that CNCRP project. For that, we have sent proposals to the Comprehensive Disaster Management Programme (CDMP) of the relief and disaster management ministry to disburse money from that programme’s budget,” said Sikdar.
A high-ranking official from the CDMP programme said the retrofitting work could not be carried out as they could not arrange funding for the work. The official also said the public works ministry is yet to decide whether the funds for doing so should come from the public exchequer or from donor agencies.

Red tape stymies bldg retrofitting

Confusion over the disbursement of funds for retrofitting some of the most essential buildings of the capital has mired this priority project of the government in red tape for years. These buildings, including the Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH), the Fire Service and Civil Defence (FSCD) headquarters and the Secretariat, were found vulnerable to moderate tremors in March 2010 after a government probe committee, tasked with identifying the risky buildings of the capital, submitted its report. Incidentally, sufficient manpower with expertise to start the retrofitting work has been readied under a Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) technical cooperation project, titled Capacity Development on Natural Disaster-Resistant Techniques of Construction and Retrofitting for Public Buildings (CNCRP), in collaboration with the public works department (PWD). Under this Tk. 25.15-crore project (of which JICA is providing Tk. 23.38 crore), several PWD engineers have received training in retrofitting the pubic buildings, but a lack of funding for doing the actual work has made such training a futile exercise so far. Abdul Malek Sikdar, former additional chief engineer and project director of the CNCRP project, told The Independent that their project has been successful. We ran the project for four years from 2011 to June 2015, and the goal of the projectwhich was to train manpower for retrofittingwas met. He, however, added that under the CNCRP project, they retrofitted the Tejgaon fire station building in July 2014 to make it earthquake-resistant under a pilot project to set an exemplar. The actual workretrofitting the buildingsis, however, outside the ambit of the work of that CNCRP project. For that, we have sent proposals to the Comprehensive Disaster Management Programme (CDMP) of the relief and disaster management ministry to disburse money from that programmes budget, said Sikdar. A high-ranking official from the CDMP programme said the retrofitting work could not be carried out as they could not arrange funding for the work. The official also said the public works ministry is yet to decide whether the funds for doing so should come from the public exchequer or from donor agencies.