UNB, Dhaka :
The government will formally launch two projects-‘Urban Building Safety Project’ and ‘Urban Resilience Project’-on Saturday in a bid to strengthen building safety in urban areas and strengthen the capacity of government agencies to respond to emergency events.
The government along with Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and the World Bank will jointly launch the two projects. The day-long launching event featuring various sessions will take place at the Bangabandhu International Conference Center (BICC) from 9:00 am.
Planning Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal will attend the launching as the chief guest while JICA Bangladesh Office Chief Representative Mikio Hataeda will make the opening remarks. Prof Jamilur Reza Chowdhury will make a keynote presentation on the challenges and way forward on urban resilience in Bangladesh.
Dhaka South City Corporation Mayor Sayeed Khokon will remain present at the closing session as the guest of Honour while the experiences of Chile, Turkey and Japan will be shared at the event on urban resilience and urban building safety.
Talking to UNB, officials at the ERD and Planning Commission said the ‘Urban Building Safety Project’ is a $116 million investment scheme and of the amount $100 million will be financed by JICA and $16 million by the government of Bangladesh.
The project aims to strengthen the building safety in Urban areas by financing loans for building safety for private buildings through Participating Financial Institutions (PFI), and by improving the building safety for public buildings, thus contributing to improvement of the social vulnerability in urban areas.
Dhaka and Chittagong are the major cities of Bangladesh, accounting for approximately 50 percent of the gross domestic product and approximately 15 percent of the population. Some 500,000 houses are concentrated in these two cities, and 70 percent of those are believed to not to have complied with Bangladesh National Building Code (BNBC).
Over the past 150 years, seven earthquakes with a magnitude of at least seven (M.7) have occurred in Bangladesh, and the next time an earthquake occurs on such a scale, it is predicted that 30 percent of the buildings in Dhaka and 80 percent of those in Chittagong will fully or partially be destroyed, making those cities among the most vulnerable urban areas in the world to disasters such as earthquakes.
The government will formally launch two projects-‘Urban Building Safety Project’ and ‘Urban Resilience Project’-on Saturday in a bid to strengthen building safety in urban areas and strengthen the capacity of government agencies to respond to emergency events.
The government along with Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and the World Bank will jointly launch the two projects. The day-long launching event featuring various sessions will take place at the Bangabandhu International Conference Center (BICC) from 9:00 am.
Planning Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal will attend the launching as the chief guest while JICA Bangladesh Office Chief Representative Mikio Hataeda will make the opening remarks. Prof Jamilur Reza Chowdhury will make a keynote presentation on the challenges and way forward on urban resilience in Bangladesh.
Dhaka South City Corporation Mayor Sayeed Khokon will remain present at the closing session as the guest of Honour while the experiences of Chile, Turkey and Japan will be shared at the event on urban resilience and urban building safety.
Talking to UNB, officials at the ERD and Planning Commission said the ‘Urban Building Safety Project’ is a $116 million investment scheme and of the amount $100 million will be financed by JICA and $16 million by the government of Bangladesh.
The project aims to strengthen the building safety in Urban areas by financing loans for building safety for private buildings through Participating Financial Institutions (PFI), and by improving the building safety for public buildings, thus contributing to improvement of the social vulnerability in urban areas.
Dhaka and Chittagong are the major cities of Bangladesh, accounting for approximately 50 percent of the gross domestic product and approximately 15 percent of the population. Some 500,000 houses are concentrated in these two cities, and 70 percent of those are believed to not to have complied with Bangladesh National Building Code (BNBC).
Over the past 150 years, seven earthquakes with a magnitude of at least seven (M.7) have occurred in Bangladesh, and the next time an earthquake occurs on such a scale, it is predicted that 30 percent of the buildings in Dhaka and 80 percent of those in Chittagong will fully or partially be destroyed, making those cities among the most vulnerable urban areas in the world to disasters such as earthquakes.
