JICA promotes urban safety

A Minutes of Meeting on JICA Technical cooperation named “Project for Capacity Development on Natural Disaster-Resistant Techniques of Construction and Retrofitting for Public Buildings” was signed on July 27, says a press release.
Economic Relations Division (ERD), Ministry of Housing and Public Works (MoHPW), Public Works Department (PWD) and Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) signed the minutes.
JICA's project, in collaboration with PWD, mainly focuses on enhancing building safety of the public buildings, which have key role in response activities after disasters, such as hospitals, fire services and government offices.
The risk of Dhaka and other cities from natural disasters is catastrophic in several cases. PWD is the leading organisation of this project and expected to spread the knowledge and technology to other governmental and private organisations.
The target of the project is to develop the capacity of PWD engineers and establish a sustainable system for promoting urban safety after the project period. Preparation of useful guidelines for urban safety that are expected to be incorporated in the Bangladesh National Building Code, establishment of proper training and licensing system for all engineers of Bangladesh, and preparation of the roadmap for retrofitting public buildings in Bangladesh are linked towards achieving the target.
Senior Representative of JICA Bangladesh office Shigeki Furuta, Chief Engineer of PWD Dewan Md. Yamin, Joint Secretary of MoHPW Shirin Akhtar, and Deputy Secretary of ERD Nasreen Akhtar Chowdhury were present in the signing ceremony.