Govt unveils roadmap for green construction

The government has unveiled a national roadmap to promote sustainable, affordable and climate-resilient buildings as Bangladesh seeks to make its rapidly expanding construction sector more environmentally friendly.
The Implementation Guidelines for the HBRI-DESH (Design for Environment and Sustainable Habitats) Framework were launched at a national event in Dhaka on Wednesday.
The Housing and Building Research Institute (HBRI), under the Ministry of Housing and Public Works, organised the event in collaboration with the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat), the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).
The guidelines provide an institutional, administrative, technical and operational roadmap for integrating the HBRI-DESH framework into Bangladesh’s regulatory system and rolling it out nationwide.
The framework was developed during the first phase of the project “Transforming the Built Environment through Sustainable Materials in Bangladesh”, funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).
UNOPS, HBRI and UNEP jointly developed the framework along with DESHboard, a digital tool designed to monitor sustainable buildings and support related decision-making.

The second phase focused on putting the framework into practice, with UN-Habitat preparing the implementation guidelines. 
Dr Md Giasuddin Haider, director general of HBRI, highlighted the framework’s role in promoting sustainable and resilient housing across the country.
Prof Dr Md Ashikur Rahman Joardar of UNOPS presented the HBRI-DESH Framework and DESHboard, while Prof Dr Sheikh Serajul Hakim of UN-Habitat outlined the guidelines and roadmap for nationwide implementation.
Md Abdul Awal, deputy secretary at the Ministry of Housing and Public Works, said the government was committed to incorporating HBRI-DESH into public housing and infrastructure projects.
The guidelines were formally handed over to the government by the project partners.
Md Abdul Matin, additional secretary at the ministry, said the launch marked the transition of HBRI-DESH into a government-driven mechanism.
“With an established institutional framework, our focus now transitions towards operationalising the system on the ground,” he said.
The guidelines cover governance structures, inter-agency coordination, capacity building, financing arrangements and a phased rollout involving pilot projects and strategic partnerships.
Participants in a panel discussion also stressed the need for regulatory coordination, fiscal incentives and greater involvement of the financial sector to accelerate the adoption of sustainable construction practices.
Bangladesh’s urban population has nearly doubled over the past two decades. UN-Habitat and UNEP project that half of the country’s population will live in cities by 2030, while housing demand is expected to reach 10.5 million units by then.
The initiative is expected to expand environmentally friendly construction practices while supporting Bangladesh’s climate commitments and progress towards Sustainable Development Goals 11, 12 and 13.