PP failed on building code, says Rambharat

Agriculture, Land and Fisheries Minister Clarence Rambharat.
Agriculture, Land and Fisheries Minister Clarence Rambharat.

THE former People’s Partnership government failed to complete work on a national building code during its tenure. Agriculture Minister Clarence Rambharat said this in the Senate yesterday.

He said the People’s National Movement government restarted the process in 2016. Rambharat was responding to a question about reports that the poor construction of a wall in Fyzabad led to its collapse in March, killing a five-year-old boy.

A November 24, 2011 Cabinet minute directed the creation of a multi-disciplinary committee in the Housing Ministry to oversee the development of a national building code.

This would have included the conversion of the small buildings guide to a small buildings code.

Rambharat said various administrative and operational issues resulted in the committee being curtailed and then discontinued in 2014, without fulfilling its mandate.

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Rambharat said the incident involving the collapsing wall demonstrated that more stringent measures are needed to create and/or implement standards for walls, fences, gates and other enclosures. The Town and Country Planning Act states that such structures “abutting on a road” must not exceed four feet in height. In other cases, these structures must not exceed seven feet in height.

Rambharat explained such structures are considered “permitted development” under the law and the Municipal Corporations Act does not identify enclosures as structures. Under this law, municipal corporations have responsibility for monitoring enclosures and gates.

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"PP failed on building code, says Rambharat"

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