THE Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha (Rajuk) has decided to hire private firms to monitor the enforcement of building codes in new construction projects and ensure that such construction is going on with duly approved Rajuk plans and building designs. According to a report in a national daily on Sunday, the Prime Minister’s (PM) Office has instructed to do this following Rajuk’s failure in monitoring and enforcing the building code due to bribe and such other corruptions which are allowing buildings to grow overnight evading standard construction practices. The decision made clear the ineptness of Rajuk’s inspectors and employees in monitoring flawed and unauthorized construction activities in the capital. But in making the decision to handover such supervisory functions to private firms, Rajuk is going to surrender its own authority to private parties when corruption and such other underhand deals may allow more faulty constructions to take to the ground. Moreover who would say that the private firms would field honest and efficient people to the job. Question also arises whether they would seek compliance of the building codes from individual owners and powerful realtors or allow them to ignore the compliance in exchange of money. As per the report, after a meeting at the PM office last week Rajuk chairman hurriedly took the decision to hire private firms bypassing the need for even developing a policy framework for hiring private firms for the job. Under the new arrangement, private firms would also give occupancy certificates to ensure that new buildings were constructed following approved plans and Rajuk’s guidelines. It appears that since adoption of Dhaka Metropolitan Building Rules in 2008, owners or developers took the occupancy certificates only for 23 buildings raising questions why Rajuk tolerated the flaws and had not taken serious initiative to enforce the building codes. It is a known fact that no construction can take place in the Rajuk areas without the knowledge of its building monitors. But such construction ended without occupancy certificates, except the few cases because bribes and corruption helped them to end their projects. Now it appears that Rajuk’s failure is allowing some people to take away its function and it is a big question why Rajuk is failing to perform its business as per the government rules of business. Its administrators are failing and going to privatize its functions.The new move may be treated as privatizing the government services when the city which is expanding rapidly everyday requires more planned and disciplined development without structural flaws and in faulty designs. The city is becoming more vulnerable to disasters like earthquakes which requires foolproof construction specially, after the earthquake in Nepal where over 15,000 people died and the entire country has been almost demolished. We can’t remain indifferent to safety of city buildings and in our view the transfer of monitoring of building codes to private parties would be suicidal.
