The government had plans to banish illegal brickfields by switching to environment-friendly concrete blocks for building construction by 2024-25 in a bid to curb air pollution. But authorities have made no tangible progress in the area over the past three years, according to a frustrated chief of the parliamentary standing committee on the environment ministry.

Saber Hossain Chowdhury, chairman of the parliamentary committee, said a new work plan and more time are now needed to meet the target.

While the pandemic dented the plans, a lack of coordination meant the number of factories making concrete blocks was a far cry from the desired goal. Indifference towards the harms caused by manufacturing bricks, made by burning soil from arable land, and a paucity of technical knowledge compounded the efforts as well.

Bangladesh has around 10,000 brickworks producing 30 billion units a year against only 250 concrete block factories.

Professor Mehedi Ahmed Ansary at the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology said raising awareness, proper coordination and cooperation by brickworks owners are all essential to execute the plan. No work plan will bring desired results unless everything is drawn up in advance.

The plan to switch from using clay bricks made from the topsoil of farmlands to concrete blocks by 2024-25 was made in 2019 with the passage of the Brick Manufacturing and Brick Kiln Establishment (Control) (Amendment) Act in parliament.

A directive from the environment ministry said the plan was to gradually increase the use of concrete blocks instead of soil bricks by making them mandatory in government construction, renovation and roadworks in villages under the Act.

The directive, however, was not applicable to the construction, and repair of the base, and sub-base of roads and highways.

The plan had aimed to use blocks for 10 percent of government constructions by the 2019-20 financial year, 20 percent by 2020-21, 30 percent by 2021-22, 60 percent by 2022-23, 80 percent by 2023-24 and finally make the complete switch by the fiscal year 2024-25.

Disappointed by the progress, Saber said: “Zero progress. There is no response from anyone. Those associated with the matter from local governments, city corporations, and ministries have done nothing to implement the plan.”

Saber thinks the government has no other way now except for a “new roadmap”.

No concrete figure was available for how much construction work the government does by using concrete blocks.

Md Mizanur Rahman, deputy secretary of the environmental pollution control unit at the environment ministry, said: “We’ll get the information from an inter-ministry meeting. Many organisations are involved here.”

He blamed the pandemic and the ongoing economic crisis caused by the coronavirus and the Russia-Ukraine war for the failure to implement the plan. “Plans are easy to make but making them a reality is a different matter.”

“The chairman of the parliamentary committee is very serious. We will hold a meeting among ministries and put a guideline in place with the counsel of the Planning Commission.”

The engineering sections of housing and public works, local government, education and health ministries carry out most of the government’s construction operations.

Md Shahidul Alam, an additional chief engineer at the Public Works Department, had no specific figure for how much of the construction was being done with concrete blocks.

“Everyone’s been asked to stop the use of bricks in fresh projects gradually. Some government structures are being built using blocks now.”

Shahidul said the new chief engineer, who took office nine months ago, directed everyone to switch to using concrete blocks. A letter was also sent to executive engineers asking them to send information on the use of blocks in ongoing projects of the department.

An entrepreneur running a concrete block factory stressed no mentionable progress has yet been made on the front.

He said the country uses 31.45 billion bricks every year on average. Using blocks for even 30 percent of the construction will require 10 billion units.

“Where are we gonna get so many blocks? We don’t even have a fraction of it. The little amount being used is insignificant compared to the target.”

He said the local government in Bhasan Char is using concrete blocks for rural streets and road dividers in the township. But people on the mainland are not used to its utilisation, so smaller entrepreneurs have been unable to make an impact.

MP Habibun Nahar, the deputy minister of environment, forest and climate change, expressed similar concerns. “Blocks are being manufactured but it has no demand in the market. That does not help the plan to be implemented faster. It’s probably a bit costlier. We’ll not be able to move forward if people are not aware of the reality.”

All concrete buildings in the country consist of clay bricks traditionally made by burning the top layer of cultivable land, massively damaging the environment. The process renders the lands infertile and arid, putting food security under threat.

A study carried out by the Bangladesh House Building Research Institute or HBRI showed that around 283 hectares of land, which is more than one percent of the total cultivable land, is ruined every day on average. About 80 percent of that is subject to unplanned rural housing and 17 percent is devastated by brick kilns.

Bricks are burnt in coal, wood and gas and the smoke coming out from the furnaces is extremely hazardous to the environment. Bangladesh emits 40 million tonnes of carbon per year and more than a fifth of that comes from brick kilns.

These kilns are emptying the forests by using firewood all the while increasing the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

The findings of the study prompted HBRI to look for a pollution-free solution. That is where the concrete blocks come in.

Md Arifuzzaman, a senior research engineer of HBRI, said blocks are made using silt, cement and a specific amount of chemicals under high pressure. Two types of concrete blocks are being made in Bangladesh - solid and holotype. Buildings made of blocks are lighter and overall less expensive.

Making blocks requires silt which can be collected through dredging. Manufacturing them is much less polluting as it is done in machines and dried.

Md Abul Kalam Azad, an executive engineer at the public works ministry, said the main reason to choose concrete blocks is to avoid damaging topsoil.

“Setting a target at the time of greenlighting a project establishes a mandate. It will be easier to make headway if that can be done. Raising awareness is also crucial.”

Axis Energy Limited works on environment-friendly fuel and construction technology. Md Monirul Islam, the managing director of the firm, said a lack of demand in the market is a big barrier to switching to blocks.

He said there are 10,000 brick kilns in the Tk 350-400 billion market. But the number of companies manufacturing concrete blocks is around 250.

“The brickworks owners have the market under their thumb. So the advertising of blocks has been low. Blocks will find their feet on the market if these brick kiln owners move to the business of making blocks and also contribute.”

The senior civil engineer said that compared to setting up a brick kiln, establishing a concrete block factory is cheaper, needing about Tk 4-5 million in investment. But entrepreneurs are losing interest due to the lack of demand with only several large companies being able to forge ahead.

Monirul, however, delivered hope saying coordination among the ministries on exclusively using blocks and cooperation from local authorities can help the initiative “go very far”.

Shamim Sakib, an owner of Tangail Eco Block Ltd, thinks the public’s lack of knowledge on the perks of concrete blocks is also an obstacle.

He said each brick costs Tk 11 on average whereas the price of a block is around Tk 40, prompting people to jump to the conclusion about its expenses.

But a single concrete block is as big as five bricks and constructing a 1,200-1,300 sq ft building with blocks will save up at least 20-25 percent of the total cost needed otherwise. It will also squeeze out more usable spaces inside a building, Shamim said.

However, BUET teacher Mehedi cautioned on several matters about blocks. “It’s not very resistant to earthquakes. Bricks can withstand earthquakes well, but how well blocks hold up is still subject to research. Because we are located in an earthquake- and flood-prone area, we should proceed after studying all aspects. A roadmap should be made with technical insight.”

The roadmap to adopt concrete blocks was discussed in a meeting of the parliamentary standing committee on the environment ministry on Sept 27.

Committee chief Saber said: “The Department of Environment will provide a roadmap after our meeting at the end of November. We will discuss and take the views of government agencies and potential concrete block users. We don’t want to do it for the sake of just doing it.”

He also spoke about surveying technical matters like the sustainability of building made of blocks and the response at the field level.

“After coming up with a new roadmap, we will send it over to the Planning Commission. The commission will ask authorities to use blocks for 40 percent of constructions while approving projects.”

[Writing in English by Syed Mahmud Onindo; editing by Osham-ul-Sufian Talukder]