IPD demands formation of building regulatory body

The Institute for Planning and Development (IPD) has demanded formation of a building regulatory authority as well as clarifying the definition of multi-storey buildings to ensure fire safety in the country.

The demand was raised on Monday, a day after a fire ravaged a 12-storey building and killed at least two in the capital's Gulshan, and four years of Churihatta fire tragedy in the old parts of the capital that claimed at least 71 lives in 2019.

"On the anniversary of the tragic inferno in Old Dhaka's Churihatta, the horrific fire incident in a multi-storey residential building in Gulshan area has again brought to the fore the issue of the limitless weakness of the internal fire safety system of buildings and the weakness of overall planning, preparation, surveillance and enforcement of laws in urban areas against the fear of loss of life and extensive damage due to fire in urban areas," read a release signed by IPD Executive Director Dr Adil Muhammad Khan.

Necessary amendments to the building and construction regulations need to be brought by prioritising the fire service law, said IPD, adding that in a bid to ensure fire and disaster safety in cities with multi-storey buildings prioritising people's life, it is necessary to hold developers and building owners accountable as well as hold all city agencies including development authorities accountable.

At the same time, to ensure proper standards and fire safety in the construction of buildings across the country, it is necessary to establish the "Bangladesh Building Regulatory Authority" immediately and ensure its effective role as per the recommendations of the Bangladesh National Building Code, added the media release.

After the huge loss of life in the recent devastating earthquake in Turkey-Syria, the issues of lack of preparedness to deal with disasters, including earthquakes, in the cities of Bangladesh have been strongly discussed in recent times, it said.

Analysis of why it has not been possible to implement the recommendations of inquiry committees formed into past urban disasters including fire incidents is very important, said the release, adding, "IPD believes that although there are policies to give priority to the safety of people's lives in the city, the recommendations are not being fully implemented due to invisible reasons".

After the earthquake in Turkey, it appears that developers, real estate traders or entrepreneurs who built high-rise buildings in violation of building regulations and later legalised them with fines were the most affected by the disaster.

In the construction of multi-storey buildings in Bangladesh, the construction and use of multi-storey buildings is going on disregarding building regulations and fire safety laws, alleged IPD, saying, "all these buildings are failing to provide security to people's lives in various disasters including fire".

IPD said that at present, multi-storey buildings are being constructed without proper arrangement of fire extinguishing system such as stairs and exit paths, fire elevators, fire doors, fire detectors, fire sprinklers, fire suppression systems etc. Later these buildings are being used without any type of occupancy certificate. Even after the on-site investigation by the Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha for the FR Tower fire in the capital, it was not confirmed whether the instructions given to the building owners and developers to ensure fire safety in multi-storey buildings were properly implemented.

In the urban areas of the whole country including Dhaka, multi-storey buildings of 10-12 storeys or more height are being built along very narrow roads without construction standards or fire safety. Even recently, during the preparation of Detailed Area Plan for Dhaka, many groups and quarters were seen to put a lot of pressure on the government to allow the construction of multi-storey buildings along small roads where fire service vehicles are unable to enter, said IPD.

As per the existing laws related to fire safety in the country, seven-storey buildings are considered as multi-story buildings, but in the Building Construction Rules, 2008 and the Bangladesh National Building Code, 2020, 10-story buildings are considered as multi-story buildings. So, the fire safety risk is very high in many buildings above seven floors.