July-September - BCL Associates Ltd

In this issue
To Our Readers
JULY - AUGUST 2013
page 01
ISSUE 67
TO OUR READERS
For a few days in early August the traffic-strangled Dhaka was transformed into a dream city.
During the Eid-ul Fitr holidays when offices and institutions were closed, most of its huge
population melted away and the city’s streets were near empty for the few days and free of its
proverbial traffic congestion. On one hand it brought back the comfort and memories of the 50’s
and on the other hand it could be seen as the field test of the potential benefit of decentralization.
The city’s traffic congestion could be resolved if the administration, commerce and industry are
dispersed by developing a number of strategically located regional centers with parallel facilities
as of Dhaka. An effort was made in the early 80’s to devolve the administration. Some new
districts and Upazilas (sub-districts) were created but no real power was vested upon them. Dhaka
remained the source and centre of all power. The aforesaid holiday event points to a potential soft
solution to a hard problem. Physical implementation should not be very expensive. The basic
infrastructure already exists in the form of divisional towns, which would be adequate with
updated planning and provision of the missing facilities. It will be worth the try, provided the
appropriate authority is transferred to them. 
Osh-Batken-Isfana Road
page 01
Rehabilitation in Kyrgystan
Software Technology Park
at Jessore
page 01
CenTR News
page 02
Roundtable on ‘Bangladesh
National Building Code
page 05
Final Performance
Assessment of RIIP-II
page 05
Expansion of Asian
Paints Factory
page 07
In the Company
page 08
Congratulations
page 08
Mahbub Haque
Managing Director
OSH-BATKEN-ISFANA ROAD REHABILITATION
IN KYRGYSTAN
The Government of Kyrgyzstan is currently rehabilitating and/or repairing sections of the 60 km
long Osh-Batkan-Isfana Road corridor as well as the roads in and around the cities of Osh and
Jalal’Abad. This corridor runs south of the Fargana valley and crosses Batkan Oblast in parallel to
the state border with Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. The road connects the Bishkek-Osh road and to
the southern region of the republic. The corridor is a continuation of the Osh-Sary-Tash-Irkestan
road and provides shortest access from Uzbekistan and Tajikistan to PRC. Priority road sections
include a section of the Osh-Batken-Isfana Road corridor that enters the city of Osh and two
adjoining sections of the Osh Ring Road that would reduce the traffic flow into the city.
contd. on page 03
SOFTWARE TECHNOLOGY PARK AT JESSORE
Bangladesh Hi-Tech Park Authority (BHTPA), under the Ministry of Information &
Communications Technology has decided to set up ICT Parks in all the administrative divisions of
Bangladesh. The objective is to promote the creation of knowledge-based hi-tech industries and
start ups, to attain the goals of Vision 2021 – Digital Bangladesh. The development of Software
Technology Parks (STP) at Jessore is one of such projects as the part of the initiatives by BHTPA
including other such ICT projects at Rajshahi, Khulna, Sylhet, Rangpur and Chittagong. On 05
Mar 2013, the Jessore STP obtained approval from ECNEC. The project is scheduled to be
completed in Sep, 2014 at an estimated cost of about USD 60 million.
contd. on page 04
CenTR News
The CenTR routine activities were
hampered in consequence of the
continuing disruptive political activities
in the country. During the months of
July and August programmes were
announced only to be rescheduled and
ultimately cancelled because of the
persistent disturbances.
The author attended a Roundtable
Discussion titled ‘Rana Plaza Collapse:
Causes and Our Role in Ensuring
Construction of Safer Buildings’ which
was organized by the CNCRP, a joint
PWD-JICA initiative at the PWD
Auditorium on 31 July. The keynote
paper was presented jointly by
Executive Engineer Md Mafizur
Rahman and Engr Anup Kumar Halder.
Wrong approval of building permit, no
verification of structural design, faulty
and inadequate structural design,
gross construction irregularity and
sub-standard construction materials are
some of the major findings that led to the
collapse of the building on 24 April,
2013. The structural analyses conducted
at HBRI revealed the presence of over
stressed columns at different levels. The
investigation also revealed poor
construction coupled with equally poor
quality control. For more on the story
the readers may read an accompanying
article based on Roundtable on the Rana
Plaza.
Public Works Department (PWD) and
Bangladesh
Earthquake
Society
organized a Technical Talk on
‘Earthquake Counter Measures for Safer
Cities’ which was presented by
Professor Taiki Saito of Toyohashi
University of Technology (TUT), Japan
on 19 Aug at the PWD Auditorium. Prof
Jamilur Reza Choudhury, VC of Asia
Pacific University was the Chief Guest.
The author, President of BES, was the
chairperson at the Seminar. Prof Saito
presented a well illustrated and
documented scenario of the historic
earthquakes in Japan, including the
Kobe and the recent Tohoku
Earthquakes, and demonstrated how
with time the Japanese institutions and
advancing technologies learnt to cope
with the devastating earthquakes
drastically reducing loss of lives and
properties.
The political activities having petered
out towards the closing stages of the
quarter paved ways for holding two
important seminars relevant to the
business interest of the company.
Engr Shahadat Hossain (inset) making his presentation
on Cybercrimes at the CenTR
The first of the two
seminars on ‘Cybercrime,
cyber security and tips for
protection against them’
was held at the CenTR
on 17 Sep. M Shahadat
Hossain, Assistant Systems
Engineer at BCL IT
Section made a well
documented presentation at
the CenTR on a subject of
considerable contemporary
interest. In a well
documented
handout
Shahadat listed out how the cyber
criminals work and how their operations
could be thwarted in order to protect an
institution or individuals. The subject
being too exhaustive Shahadat
concluded his presentation assuring the
attendees to return to the CenTR to make
further presentation at an early date.
BCL has been invited by the Italian
consulting firm IRD Engineering to join
them on a UNDP sponsored seismic
assessment of UN Buildings in
Bangladesh for raising their safety
against earthquakes and blasts. CenTR
approached BASF to make a
presentation on their products used in
retrofitting and blast proofing. In
compliance to our request BASF
Construction Chemicals made a
presentation at the CenTR on BASF
solutions and products for concrete
repair and retrofitting held on 30 Sep to
the audience comprising BCL engineers,
architects and technical professionals.
The chair Engr Salma Akhter in her
round up applauded the presentation by
Fahima Shahadat and expressed her
appreciation to the BASF for the
presentation. Ms Salma is the designated
BCL Team Leader for the seismic
assessment of UN Buildings project.
The author was invited to attend a
meeting of the sub-committee for review
of Bangladesh National Building Code
(BNBC) drafted in 1993 and enacted in
2006. The meeting was convened at the
Housing and Building Research Institute
on 03 Aug. Chaired by Prof Jamilur
Reza Choudhury, VC, Asia Pacific
University the members attending were
shown a powerpoint presentation
prepared by Prof Tahmeed Al-Hussainy
of the Civil Engineering Department,
BUET under the direction of Prof M
Hossain Ali, a senior academic at the
Civil Engineering Department at BUET.
2
cities. Osh is the second
largest city of the republic
after the capital Bishkek.
These roads are under the
administrative responsibility
of Ministry of Transport and
Communications (MOTC).
The project started in March
this year and is expected to
be completed in Sep 2014.
Contract amount of the
project is USD 16,611,036 in
Ms Shahadat making her presentation at the CenTR
FC and a sum of KGZ
A debate ensued between the drafting 799,642,299 in local currency.
committee members and the geologists,
the latter raising questions on The entire project is divided into three
delineation of two zones bordering the sections:
Bay of Bengal. At the intervention of the
chair, it was agreed to publish the Nookat Pass, Total length 18.08 km
revised version of the Building Code in The distance between Osh and Batken is
the internet of the country’s export 224 km (approx). Government has taken
sector industries pending substantiated the section from km 9+886.70 to km
findings in the future.
27+966 which is called Nookat Pass for
re3habilitation. This section is part of
Information on the training activities in the Osh-Batken road and will be totally
the next quarter is available from Head reconstructed with two lane flexible
of CenTR at:
pavement, rehabilitation/reconstruction
of drainage system and provision of road
Tel: 891 8849
appurtenances. All the structures in the
Fax: 899 1414
section are pipe culverts of dia 1.0 Email: centr@bclgroup.com 
1.5m and box culverts of 2x2m.
Dr AAM Shamsur Rahman
OSH-BATKEN-ISFANA ROAD
REHABILITATION
IN KYRGYSTAN
contd. from page 01
3
BCL Associates Ltd (Bangladesh) in JV
with Kocks Consult GmbH of Germany
have been appointed as the Consultants
for construction supervision of the
project. Kyrgyzstan, also known as the
Kyrgyz Republic, received financing
from the World Bank towards the cost of
rehabilitation of urban roads in and
around the greater Osh and Jalal’Abad
Osh By-Pass Osmonova Road, Total
length 9.75 km
This road is a by-pass of the main city
roads. The existing pavement is not in
good condition. It was recommended to
repair the cracks and pot-holes of the
pavement and overlay the total 9.75 km
and carry out repair/reconstruction of
culverts/bridges. A very small part of the
road is considered to need
reconstruction. This area is finally tested
and marked by the Senior Material
Engineers of the Consultants and the
Contractor.
Osh-Airport Road, Total length 4.69
km
This is the only road connecting the Osh
city with the Airport. A concrete-lined
irrigation canal runs on the right edge of
the road almost to the entire road length.
Heavy flow of water moves through this
canal and all the structures in the road
are built to cross water from right to left
side of the road. Although, in the main
proposal of the design consultant a
number of structures were proposed to
be replaced, the Supervision Consultants
and the Contractor after reviewing the
conditions of the existing structures and
construction difficulties, recommended
to rehabilitate most of the structures
except a couple of new construction.
This road was also considered
to be rehabilitated by treating
the asphalt top only. After repairing
pot holes and sealing cracks, it was
decided to overlay the entire road except
a very small portion of the road,
where the base has failed, will be
reconstructed.
It is expected that trade and travel
between the neighbouring countries will
increase on completion of the project.
BCL has worked before on Osh-Ispana
Road and is happy to return to work for
MOTC. 
Abdus Sobhan/ M A Aziz
SOFTWARE
TECHNOLOGY PARK
AT JESSORE
contd. from page 01
Such industrial parks have been
successfully set up in many countries.
The advantages such parks provide are
considerable. They reduce cost of doing
business by providing readily available
dedicated infrastructure in a delimited
area. They attract new business by
providing
integrated
physical,
administrative, financial and legal
infrastructure in one location. They
allow the entrepreneurs to obtain the
Park’s benefits, as may be allowed by
the government, more easily. And,
environmental and social impacts can be
pre-planned and managed more
efficaciously and at a lower cost.
The Jessore STP project site has an area
of approximately 6 acres located in
Jessore town which provides it with the
advantages of an urban setting and
proximity of an educated pool of skills.
The long-term objective of the project is
to establish knowledge-based industries,
particularly
those
related
to
IT/IT-Enables Services (IT/ITES), in
order to contribute to the national
economy and achieve the goal of
‘Digital Bangladesh’. The immediate
goal of the project is to create the basic
infrastructure for developing a business
environment conducive to the
enhancement of the IT/ITES sector, and
to attract potential foreign and local
entrepreneurs.
The program calls for developing a
master plan for ICT research and related
facilities. There will be a host of other
related facilities, with potential for
future growth.
The specific objectives of the Jessore
STP Project are as follows:
• Promoting balanced development of
•
•
•
•
•
ICT industries in the southern region
of the country.
Creating basic infrastructure for the
establishment of IT Park/STP on a
regional level.
Constructing a multi-tenant building
with necessary utility services at the
allocated land to create ready
infrastructure for the potential
investors.
Building a conducive environment to
attract foreign companies in
establishing and operating software
and IT/ITES industry in Jessore, as
well as the rest of Bangladesh.
To create employment opportunities
for ICT professionals.
To promote knowledge-based
industry to attain the “Vision
2021: Digital Bangladesh’
goals.
BCL Associates Ltd has been
awarded the contract to provide
consultancy services for Jessore
STP Project, which includes
preparing the master plan,
detailed design and supervision
of construction of a multi-tenant
building and other ancillary
buildings. Services to be
provided by the consultant
include the preparation of a
master
plan
integrating
the following components:
Multi-tenant Building (MTB), Research
and Development Center, Data
Recovery Center, Dormitory Building,
central cafeteria, electrical sub-station,
ancillary works and will include
necessary infrastructure such as internal
road network and walkways, car park,
utility networks (fiber optic, telephone,
electricity and water and sewerage
system) and landscaped green areas
within the STP compound and provision
for future expansion.
The MTB will have ten floors with
one-level basement car parking. Total
floor area will be about 12,000 sqm. It
will provide accommodation for STP
administrative support offices, banks,
software development companies, call
centers, trainings, seminars, conference,
server rooms, etc. The dormitory
building will provide 50 single
bedrooms with necessary facilities.
The structural system is planned in
composite steel and reinforced concrete
for quicker construction. The
consultant has proposed a green,
intelligent building which will
have an environment-friendly design,
Artist’s Impression of the proposed IT Park at Jessore
4
incorporating integrated ICT facilities.
These measures will all contribute to
enhancing productivity and reducing
operational costs.
A contract was signed between BHTPA
and BCL on 22 Aug, 2013 with a target
to implement the project in 21 months.
The project team has already started
implementing its tasks and the project is
progressing as scheduled. 
Arifur Rahman
ROUNDTABLE ON
‘BANGLADESH NATIONAL
BUILDING CODE
The 9-storey Rana Plaza at Savar, in the
outskirts of Dhaka, collapsed on April
24 this year, killing some 1,200 people,
and maiming many more with scores
remaining unaccounted for whose
numbers may never be known. This
horrendous industrial catastrophe is the
second largest in the region after the
Bhupal disaster of 1984 in India and
raised questions about workplace safety
in general and the highly vulnerable
construction practice in the country.
The Rana Plaza tragedy is an example of
regulatory failure and lack of routine
supervision.
5
In this background the country’s premier
manufacturer of steel bar, BSRM jointly
with The Daily Star, the country’s
leading English language daily, held a
Roundtable on ‘BNBC: 2nd Edition, Its
Relevance and Contribution to Building
Safety’ at Dhaka on 18 Aug. Senior
academics from the country’s leading
technical universities, practicing
engineers and architects, representatives
from real estate developers and
manufacturers and suppliers of
construction materials participated and
contributed to a lively and knowledge
sharing discussion at the roundtable.
From the proceedings of the workshop it
was evident that although the country
had formulated relevant construction
rules and regulatory measures to ensure
safety in construction, the willful
violation and indifference demonstrated
by the regulatory bodies, the builders,
the owners colluding with the
contractors, make serious compromises
which contribute to the construction
failures. Rana Plaza bears glowing
testimony to this observation.
Following the collapse of Rana Plaza a
firm of British Consultants was engaged
by some UK garment buyers to conduct
structural surveys of factories that they
use in Bangladesh. So far some 70
factories have been inspected and most
of them fail to meet the requirements of
BNBC. The main problems are poor
quality of construction, poor detailing,
deviations from BNBC in respect of
member sizes. Although seismic
assessment was not part of the brief it
was noted that most of the factories had
little or no lateral stability. The other
major problem has been inadequate or
inappropriate foundation design. Most
of the buildings even up to 10 storeys
high are founded on isolated footings.
Prof J R Choudhury in the chair
observed that with the exception of a
few buildings most of the masonry
structures in the country are
non-engineered. In his opinion the Rana
Plaza tragedy was not due to lack of
awareness of the building code, rather he
attributed this to the apathy of the
owners and the regulatory authority
since they believe ‘rules are for fools’
and ‘money talks’. Prof Choudhury
further expressed that any local
government authority such as the
municipality, and development control
authority like RAJUK aspiring to obtain
the authority to regulate building
constructions, must have competent
professionals. An effective mechanism
is needed to ensure that the laws were
enforced and exemplary deterring
punishment meted out to the violators.
In spite of having Bangladesh National
Building Code (BNBC) which was
developed in 1993 by a competent team
of professionals headed by Professor
Choudhury, and enacted in 2006 and is
about to be revised to its 2nd edition
under another professor of civil
engineering at BUET Dr Md Hossain
Ali, it was observed that no regulatory
authority has been created for or
entrusted with ensuring the proper
implementation of the code in the
country.
Wide ranging issues were deliberated at
the seminar relating to building
construction in the country. A
recommendation came out strongly that
it was imperative to have an independent
commission
to
oversee
and
institutionalize the implementation of
the BNBC. 
Dr Shamsur Rahman
FINAL PERFORMANCE
ASSESSMENT OF
RIIP-II
Local Government Engineering
Department (LGED) has implemented
the Second Rural Infrastructure
Improvement project (RIIP-II) in 183
upazilas of 23 districts in Rangpur,
Dhaka and Chittagong Divisions,
funded by ADB, KfW, GTZ and GoB.
The project included three main
components - (i) physical infrastructure
component; (ii) technical cooperation
and capacity building component and
(iii) local governance component, and
was completed in June, 2013 at a cost of
about $158 million. ADB and GoB
provided funds for infrastructure
component while GTZ and KfW
supported the technical cooperation and
capacity building component.
infrastructure construction; (vi) create
Income Generating Activities (IGA)
opportunities and marketing facilities
for rural people including women
entrepreneurs in local market: (vii)
increase beneficiary participation in
infrastructure
planning
and
implementation; (viii) strengthen local
government bodies improving their
financial
and
administrative
management capabilities; (ix) enhance
institutional development of LGED at
local level and advancing capability of
local contracting organizations; and (x)
develop gender equity and women
empowerment
through
various
activities such as Labour Contracting
Society (LCS), women’s corner, skill
training and awareness campaigning.
BCL Associates Limited was engaged
as the Consultants for carrying out
end-of-project surveys and undertaking
final performance assessment based on
Result Based Management (RBM)
concept and indicators to compare
actual project output and outcomes to
the benchmark level output and
outcomes. The Consultants were further
required to determine the improvements
achieved by the project implementation. The Consultants have undertaken the
end-of project surveys, prepared post
The main goal of the project is to help implementation database and analyzed
reduce rural poverty in project districts data for comparing initial and terminal
through improved infrastructure, rural states of project objectives, outputs and
development and sustainable economic outcomes. The project improved 1,425
growth. Scopes of the project included km of all weather roads including
are: improvement of upazila, union and 18,254m of bridges and culverts, 55
village roads to all weather standard union complexes, 34 GCM, 4HQ-GCM,
with proper safety measures; 52 rural hat-bazaars, 40 women corners,
improvement of rural market facilities; two (2) flood shelters and two (2)
and construction of union parishad landing jetties. The outcome of the
complex as center for service delivery. above development was found in
This also included provision of flood substantial growth of motorized traffic
shelter, landing jetties and submergible (AADT) at 46% and non-motorized
roads and improvement of local traffic at 18% per annum during
governance capacity and support to the inter-survey period. Travel time has
project management.
reduced by 45% and 27% for Motorized
Traffic (MT) and Non-Motorized
The specific objectives of the project Traffic (NMT) respectively and average
are to: (i) reduce road user cost monthly income of operators increased
removing transport bottlenecks and by 85% for all transport. Numbers of
bridging gaps; (ii) improve GCMs and shops for commercial activities have
associated jetties; (iii) ensure dry season increased by 42% while educational and
transport in low laying areas; (iv) create other institutions by 17% as roadside
employment opportunities for destitute activities.
women in tree plantation and caring
thereof; (v) create direct employment in The study found that at the Goal level
outcome the average household income
has increased by 78% and the incidence
of upper poverty has reduced to 30.6%
compared to 40.4% in baseline. The
incidence of hardcore poverty has also
been reduced to a significant amount
from 32% in baseline to 21.9% in Final
Performance Assessment Study
(FPAS). Regionally Dhaka and Comilla
have faster rate of poverty reduction at
more than 20% than Rangpur and
Mymensingh during the inter-survey
period.
Other social indicators were found
improved such as average household
size has decreased from 5.04 in baseline
to 4.83 persons, illiteracy rate dropped
from 16.7% to 16.4%, primary school
enrolment has increased from 85.4% to
88.3%, housing and sanitation has
improved from 65.5% to 54.2%,
coverage of safe drinking water has
increased from 95% to 98%. The
electricity connection has increased
from 34.7% to 46.9% of households in
accessible
areas,
while
in
non-accessible areas the use of solar
energy has increased from 8% to 22%.
Cropping intensity increased from
170% to 177%. Adverse result was
found in number of households that
made investment, which has declined
by 1 percentage point from 21% in
baseline to 20%.
Due to market facilities improvement
local business has developed in Growth
Centre Market/Rural Hat-Bazaars
(GCM/RHBs)
providing
more
opportunities for expansion which is
reflected in the growth of number of
shops and enterprises by 67% and
annual lease value of GCM by 44% over
the baseline. The qualitative change has
occurred in the size of capital
investment by enterprises. The number
of lower capital size groups (up to USD
6
2,410) have been decreased and over
USD 2,410 groups have increased from
23% to 38%. The employment
opportunity in GCM/RHB market has
increased by 6%. Women Market
Section (WMS) has been found working
well with 94% Female Shop Owner
(FSO) is running their shops and
participated in MMC meetings.
Gender action plan (GAP) for women
empowerment envisaged in the project
has been successfully implemented as a
result all FSOs are found active in
running shops in WMS, 59% of LCS
women are engaged in different IGAs
and paid project works, 75% of them
have improved housing conditions
while 47% sanitation. All LCS women
have received awareness and IGA
training in immunization of chicken and
treatment of cattle they own.
7
The project contributed to increasing
efficiency of local governance in
service delivery by UPs. They have
prepared Union Development Plan
(UDP), introduced open budget system,
collect model tax, and realized on an
average 80% of holding tax. It was
found that more people (70%) visit UPs
than before (19% in baseline) for
receiving different services. From
household survey it was found that 66%
of respondents have updated
their holding taxes and 83% expressed
satisfaction over services of their
UPs. Considering the trend of above
changed results it can be concluded
that the project has achieved its physical
outputs and short term outcomes as
envisaged. The long term impact
of the project will depend on the
maintenance of the infrastructure
improved and the sustainability of the
governance improvement. 
Md Rafiqul Islam
EXPANSION OF ASIAN
PAINTS FACTORY
Asian Paints (Bangladesh) Ltd (APBL)
is engaged in extension of production
capacity at its existing factory at
Bahadurpur, located about 16 km north
of Gazipur District Headquarters. The
extension is planned to double its
present annual capacity to 24,000 kilo
litre. The major components of the
proposed extension are:
Detail assessment of the existing plant,
architectural and engineering designs
and documentation has been carried out
by the consultant based on the approved
master plan.
To meet the requirement of power
supply for the extended factory the
existing electrical installation has been
suitably upgraded. A 1250 KVA
substation has been proposed in
addition to the existing 500 KVA
substation. The standby emergency
A. Vertical extension of main factory power supply capacity at 500 KVA has
been enhanced to 1000 KVA to ensure
building which includes
 Paint manufacturing and Storage uninterrupted power supply in the
factory. A 160 KVA standby generator
area;
 Storage area for Finished Goods, will serve as a dedicated unit to provide
uninterrupted power for the Resin plant
Raw Materials and Office area;
 MM/PM and Barrel Storage area; and for general lighting. A Paint factory
needs special type of motor loads.
and
 Extension of existing Generator Existing motor control panels have as
such been redesigned and rearranged.
House.
B. Additions and modifications of the The controls for Solvent based and
water based equipment have been
existing structures include:
 Mezzanine floor for package separated through two Motor Control
panels. A third Motor control panel has
materials in DCP Block;
 Prayer room and worker’s amenity; been deployed to control the equipment
 Bulk storage tank for emulsion and at Resin plant and other utility areas. To
solvent, ETP tank, Xylin tank, Fire meet the regulatory requirement an
on-grid 6 KW solar power system has
water reservoir etc; and
 Vehicle parking, internal roads, been designed which will supply power
drainage system and landscaping. to the Office area.
The sprawling Asian Paints industrial complex at Rajendrapur in Gazipur district
IN THE COMPANY
BCL NEWSLETTER
is a magazine of
BCL Associates Limited
an international
consultancy practice with
its head office in Dhaka.
The newsletter reports
quarterly on the
activities of BCL and its
member organizations.
Articles in the
BCL NEWSLETTER
may be reproduced with
acknowledgment
of the source.
EDITORIAL BOARD
Mahbub Haque
(Editor in Chief )
Kazi M Huque
&
Dr AAM Shamsur Rahman
PRODUCTION AND PRINT
Amitié, Dhaka
CONTACT ADDRESS
BCL Associates Limited
House 12, Road 20, Sector-11
Uttara, Dhaka-1230, Bangladesh
Tel: +880-2-791 4991-4
Fax: +880-2-899 1414
Email: bcl@bclgroup.com
Bangladesh Consultants (Pty) Ltd
Plot No. 1156
Nkoyaphiri Industrial
Mogoditshane, Botswana
Tel/Fax: + 267-71672718
E-mail: bclbots@botsnet.bw
Contact person:
Mr HailuAlemayehou
BCL Zambia Ltd
TAZAMA House, 2nd Floor
PO Box 250046
Ndola, Zambia
Tel/Fax: +260-2-610 381
E-mail: bcl@zamtel.zm
Contact person:
Mr Cornwell M Hampande
Address
correspondence to
Editor in Chief
BCL NEWSLETTER
APBL utilizes various sophisticated equipment
for production of quality paint product.
Based on the layout of equipment and facilities of
paint manufacturing area of the existing
plant including the portion under extension
provided by APBL, the consultant has
carried out mechanical design of process and
cooling water distribution systems for the
equipment. The layout design now provides
two individual zones - one for the solvent
based and the other for water based products.
Equipment for water based product needs
both cooling and process water and those
for the solvent based product need cooling
water only. Precise temperature control by
cooling the product raw mixture to a specified
degree is a prerequisite for production of
quality paint. With the help of the data
provided by APBL the consultant determined the
cooling requirement, designed the cooling
water distribution system and related piping
details and accessories. Ensuring delivery of
required quantity of process water is vital
to the production quality of water based product.
APBL supplied relevant data on water
requirement for related equipment. On the basis of
this the consultant designed process water
distribution incorporating microprocessor
controlled booster pump which will ensure instant
delivery of the desired quantity of water into
equipment whenever required. Design of fire
detection, alarm and fire fighting system for
APBL is under way in line with applicable codes
and standard.
APBL engaged M/S Ironbuilt Steel
Building System Ltd for construction
of civil works in June 2012 and M/S Macdonald
for PEB structure in September 2012.
The works are progressing under the
supervision of BCL Associates, the
consultant and expected to be completed by
December 2013. 
Sufee Mustaque Ahmed
A B Zakir Ahmad, 50,
obtained Diploma in Civil
Engineering from Rangpur
Polytechnic Institute in 1988
and joined BCL in the same
year as a Sub-Assistant Engineer. At BCL he
has worked as a survey and field engineer till
date on several projects namely, EEC-financed
Post-Flood Rehabilitation of Rural Primary
School Project (1993-96), WB-financed 1998
Flood Rehabilitation Project at Bogra
(1996-2001), WB-financed Social Investment
Programme (2005-07), and GoB-DANIDA
funded Water Supply and Sanitation in Coastal
Belt Project. He is currently deployed at the
BSRM Steel Mill Project as a Site Engineer
from May, 2013.
CONGRATULATIONS
Our heartiest congratulations and best wishes to:
Nasima Zaman, for her
upgrading to the position of
Assistant CAD Engineer
effective from 31 May in the
Company.
Rajawana
Shikder
Tonna, the youngest
daughter of Sahana
Sikder and Mokfar Uddin
Sikder, a long serving General Assistant at BCL
and for her wedding with Fazala Rabbi
Tanim, the elder son of Md Israfil Hossain and
Gulshan Ara Begum on 18 Aug in Dhaka.
Shayan Asifa Ahmed, the
elder of the two daughters
of Asma Ahmed and Sufee
Mustaque Ahmed, Director,
BCL for her wedding with
Tyler Sanders, the son of
Janel Sanders and Kemp Sanders on 19 July at
Los Angeles, USA. The reception followed on
10 Aug at Austin, USA.
Don’t be in Rat Race – Drive with Grace!
8