Around 65 per cent of the readymade garments (RMG) factories in Bangladesh do not comply with the standards of the Bangladesh National Building Code, said the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) after conducting a building assessment in RMG factories. Senior representative of JICA’s Bangladesh office, Hiroyuki Tomita, made this observation in his presentation at a joint launch of the ‘Urban Building Safety Project’ and ‘Urban Resilience Project’ at the Bangabandhu International Conference Centre (BICC) at Sher-e-Bangla Nagar in the city yesterday. Speaking as the chief guest, planning minister AHM Mustafa Kamal stated that people in rural areas construct their houses without following the building code, which may cause a disaster in future. “I do not want a single accident to take place,” he said. He emphasised the need to build awareness in rural areas to preclude construction of buildings that do not follow the building code. Prof Jamilur Reza Chowdhury, a civil engineer and former adviser to the caretaker government, said large numbers of old buildings as well as new buildings are vulnerable to earthquakes. He suggested strengthening the monitoring system to ensure the building code is followed for commercial and residential buildings. The government of Bangladesh, JICA, and the World Bank (WB) jointly launched the two projects yesterday. These projects aim to enhance urban resilience in Bangladesh. JICA and the World Bank will finance the large-scale investments—the Urban Building Safety Project (UBSP) and Urban Resilience Project (URP) respectively—which have been developed in parallel, following extensive technical assistance engagements. This collaboration is what was envisioned when both the presidents of JICA and the World Bank met in Tokyo, in July 2014, to discuss areas where the institutions can effectively collaborate. During this meeting, disaster risk management was highlighted as a key area of opportunity, particularly with respect to mainstreaming large-scale infrastructure investment. The two projects launched today build on a long-term JICA and World Bank engagement with the Bangladesh government to reduce vulnerability to disasters in the country. The World Bank is supporting the Urban Resilience Project (URP), which aims to enhance the capacity of government agencies to respond to emergencies and strengthen systems to reduce the vulnerability of future building construction to disasters in Dhaka and Sylhet. The programme has three core pillars: i) effectively respond to urban disasters; ii) reinforce existing infrastructure; and iii) ensure resilient construction. In order to comprehensively address the urban resilience, a long-term three-phased investment programme has been planned, which will incorporate each pillar in subsequent investments. The URP will serve as the first in a series of investments, which will initially focus on Pillar 1, to improve the critical capacity and infrastructure for emergency planning and response. The URP will also lay the foundation for subsequent investments in retrofitting public infrastructure by identifying and addressing existing vulnerabilities in the built environment, and fostering a culture of risk-sensitive urban development.
