Project on reducing quake risk awaits ECNEC nod

Aiming to reduce the structural vulnerability of buildings in urban areas, the government has sought Tk 18 crore more to implement a project for enhancing safety measures against earthquakes.

The Ministry of Housing and Public Works has sent a revised project proposal styled ‘Technical Development to Upgrade Structural Integrity of Buildings in Densely Populated Urban Areas and Its Strategic Implementation towards Resilient Cities in Bangladesh’ and called for extending the deadline to complete the project by a year, a senior official of the Planning Ministry told The Business Post.

The project aims to new performance evaluation and retrofit schemes to avoid the collapse of buildings caused by an earthquake. It also comes up with a new approach for efficient and effective implementation.

“At a project evaluation meeting, we have cleared the revised proposal for the final approval of the executive committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC). It’s a major project for the country’s urban areas,” said Ramendra Nath Biswas, a member on the Planning Commission.

Once the project is implemented, it will reduce the risk of disaster from major earthquakes, he said.

According to the project proposal, Bangladesh is located on a vulnerable tectonic plate of the Indian subcontinent. Experts fear major earthquakes would occur in the area.

Every 100 years, a major earthquake takes place and Bangladesh is situated in a high-risk zone for earthquakes.

The project will be implemented in greater Dhaka by the Housing and Building Research Institute.

The government and Japan International Cooperation Agency are jointly funding the project and the estimated cost is Tk 51 crore.

Earlier, the project was taken in April 2016 and was supposed to be completed in March 2021.

The revised proposal said many major works of the project remained incomplete for the coronavirus pandemic. It also sought a year extension as many new activities were included in the revised project.

Six successive mild earthquakes shook Sylhet city and its adjacent areas, leaving people panicking and running out into the streets on May 29 and 30.

The observatory at Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology recorded 86 tremors of magnitudes above four on the Richter scale from January 2006 to May 2009. These minor tremors indicate the possibility of heavier quakes.