Wednesday, December 04, 2013

Need for revising Building Code of Pakistan urged

Staff Report

ISLAMABAD: National and international experts have said that there is need for revising and updating the existing Building Code of Pakistan and earthquake resistant building designs.
The suggestion was made at one-day Expert Group Meeting, organised by ERRA in collaboration with UN Habitat at ERRA Headquarters.
Members from UN Habitat, Pakistan Engineering Council, National Housing Authority, Communication and Works Department, engineering universities, consultants and practitioners of construction industry attended the meeting, jointly headed by ERRA Deputy Chairman Maj Gen Azim Asif and UN Habitat’s Bella Evidente.
The expert focused on revising and improving Building Code of Pakistan (seismic provisions-2007), creating enabling environment through capacity building and devising an effective implementation mechanism for effective building code implementation in Pakistan.
The meeting was a follow-up to a national workshop on “Implementation of Building Code of Pakistan for Disaster Risk Reduction” organised by ERRA in July 2013. In the backdrop of this workshop, challenges in implementation were identified and recommendations were made.
The Expert Group, after detailed deliberations and consultation, approved TORs along with constitution of a Steering Committee which is to be headed by ERRA deputy chairman. Three Working Groups would also be formed with a mandate to prepare a roadmap in completing the task.
The ERRA deputy chairman in his opening remarks welcomed the experts and participants and highlighted the importance of the issue in the wake of recent earthquakes in Balochistan and flashfloods in KP and Sindh.
He also emphasised that the recommendations given by the respective Working Group would help in revision and updating of Building Code of Pakistan.
Giving background of ERRA, he said that UN Habitat and ERRA were long term partners and now ERRA is entrusted with the task of post-disaster reconstruction and rehabilitation countrywide. In 2005 earthquake, ERRA faced the gigantic task of reconstruction and restoration of 600,000 housing units and approximately 14,000 facilities in KP and AJK. ERRA faced this national challenge successfully through implementation of building code and construction of seismic resistant building and private houses despite many odds, said the ERRA deputy chairman.
In her opening remarks, Bella Evidente commended the efforts of ERRA in taking a lead role at national level to revise, update and implement the Building Code of Pakistan.
“The building control authorities are there in the country but due to capacity limitations, resource constraints and lack of awareness amongst concerned stakeholders and practitioners, the implementation of Building Code of Pakistan seems to be a far cry.”
Participants said that implementation of Building Code of Pakistan could not be addressed through intervention at policy level alone; a holistic approach providing and creating an enabling environment can yield optimal results on sustainable basis.

Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk

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