24th Annual General Meeting of BACE

The 24th Annual General Meeting of Bangladesh Association of Consulting Engineers (BACE) was held on 07 December, 2007 at hotel Lake Shore in Dhaka, with Mr Mahbub Haque, President, BACE in chair. This being a weekly holiday the turn out at 55.4% was lower then expected. The meeting started with a prayer for the departed souls of Managing Directors of three Member Firms – namely, Mr Gholam Asgar of SARM Associates Ltd, Mr Mofazzal Hossain of Worldwide Engineers Ltd, and Mr Abul Quassem of Desh-upadesh Ltd, who passed away recently. In course of his welcome address the President, remembering the victims of recent Cyclone Sidr, observed that substantial financial contribution has poured in from national and international sources for rehabilitation of the cyclone damage, and more is on way and that the financial contribution that BACE could make, would not make much difference. On the other hand, we could contribute our specialized knowledge to a sustainable reconstruction effort. He noted that past reconstruction following such cyclone has basically consisted of rebuilding or restoring the devastated shelters to the earlier state, which lasted only until the next disaster.

He invited the members to develop a scheme of resilient reconstruction to alleviate recurring misfortune of the people of coastal belt. An enthusiastic debate followed in support of the idea and it was agreed that the members will send their proposals to BACE Secretariat in the next one month. Based on the proposals received, a suitable scheme will be developed by a Committee that has earlier been set up and will be presented to the Disaster Management Bureau. It was further proposed that BACE will take up and finance one cyclone affected village for reconstruction. Mr Mohiuddin Ahmed, Principal of EPCT, a Member Firm from Sylhet, announced that he would raise and bring in a contribution of Tk 5.0 million for a pilot reconstruction of a cyclone damaged village, if a suitable idea is developed by BACE.

The General Secretary presented an overview of the EC’s activities since the last AGM held in August, 2006. The audited accounts for the FY 2005-06 and the budget for the FY 2007-08 were presented next, discussed and approved. The formal session ended with the Election to the Executive Council of BACE for 2007-09. The election was conducted by IPP Mr S M Shaheedullah. President Mahbub Haque, Vice-President AKM Rafiquddin, General Secretary Mujibur Rahman Khan and Treasurer D S Shamsul Abedin were re-elected in their respective positions for another term and three new Council Members, namely Mizanor Rahman Khan, Lailun Nahar Ekram and Rabiul Islam Khan were elected to the Executive Council to replace the outgoing Members. The President in his closing address thanked the members for their contribution to the AGM and the Election and, sought cooperation of all the Member Firms to take up in earnestness the Cyclone Reconstruction programme discussed at the AGM.

The members present wished well to the newly elected Council and joined in a fellowship dinner hosted by the Association.

Mahbub Haque