Critical analysis of the organaizatonal management of public works department to cope with social and technological changes

Abstract

Public Works Deparhnent (PWD) is pioneer in the construction sector m Bangladesh. It is a government regulatory deparhnent and takes the leading role in the consh'uction industry. Over the last two centuries PWD succe~sfullyleading the construction sector by setting the trend and standard of building infrastructure, During post - liberation period PWD played the role of prime mover in rebuilding the country infrastructures. During the period of British rule in 1786,a Military Board was setup to look after all public works matters. Public works deparhnent started it's journey at that time ,At the mid of 19th century (1845-1856 ) public works were divided into three major deparhnents, (i) "Public Work~ Rflilway department' - responsible for railway establishments,"(ii) Public Works Rev('nue deparhnent" - rc~ponsible for districts collectorifltes, cannel and river digging and (iii)" Public Works Judicial departmcnt"_ responsible for Jail, Police Station, Court etc. Before estflblishment of separate Railway Board in I9U5,all rail'way concel"ndevelopment worb w('re done by PWD. In 1946 coll.';truction& m,lintenance works of Estate offices,Water, Power, Irrigation, Navigation, Electricity Mining, Petrol of central government wer(' put in department of "Works, Mines, Power". In 1947PWD W[lSrenamed a~ CBI dl'partment and was r('sponsible for Building, Communication and Irrigation works. The Communication and Building directorale (C & B) which existl'd nt that time was entrusted with all construction work for the provincial eoverruncnt. In 1%2 C & B h,ld divided in to 'Building DircdOTale' and 'Highway Directorat(". Aftcr liberation Bangladesh inherited with two separate worh departmenb - CPWD and Building Directorate. In 1977lhe~(' two dcpartments merged into a single departlT""1tand renamed as PlAtD Works Department i~changing to meet the demand of the time. It is changing and developing time lo time. Role of the engineers of thIS department is also chaneing, Once engineers were reSponsible for works of Irrigation, Mining. Railway, Highway, IJuilding. All the branches of "Civil Engineering'" were ('ntrusted with PWD at one timl'. By the pas~age of time the need of specialization was felt and now Irrigation, Railw[ly,Roads, Building etc all works are entrusted wilh independent specialized deparhnent. FWD the govcrrmwnt bigg'o'stconstruction agency is a specialized building construction and maintenance depdrlment. It is now mainly responsible for e(0nOllllC construction and proper mainlenance of government buildings. F\VD under lhe Ministry of Housing and Public Works headquarter at the capital of the counh-y Dhaka is presently headed by the Chief Engineer and four Zonal Chief named" Additional Chief Engineer" are workine in Dhaka, Chittagong, Raj~hahl and Khulna. Each Zone divided into some Circles which is headed by the Superintending Engineer~.Executive Engineers work under S.li in the district level. Now there are 4 Zone 32 Circlcs128Divisions. Before industrial revolutions that started in 18thcentury in Europe, building construction materials and technologies were almost indigenous. Since the time during last 150 years hardware part of technology i.e'. machines, instruments, materials have evolved and developed manifold. And now at the time of information age rapid moderni7.-ationgoing on. Size of bricks have changed, lime mortar technolugy has changed to cement mortar, flat slab taken the place of ribbed slab, high strength steel have cume into use in lieu of steel joist. Brick, stone, steel etc widely used as building materials evolved in the industrial age are still being used by PWD. Tcchnologkal d<evelopmentuf agricultural age and industrial age, now facing the challenges of information age. The software part of technology i,e. hurrmware,orgaware & infuware arc also changing and dC'velopingday by day. Concept of generalized engineer changed into specialized one and more and more specialization IS coming in future. Organizational de~ign and structure of PWD have changed and devC'lopedmany tim~s over the years. PWD. as the leader in the construction field using modem building tcchnologie~ and durable, co~t effective building materials. In order to strengthen the efficiency and cost <effectiveoptimum design PWD is using computer and latest design soih'Vare,It nuw uses STAADPRO, GEAR, ai",J GRASPfor design, control and analysis purposes and Auto CAl) for drafting,