With the help of Japanese experts and local engineers, DK Knitwear, a unit of DK Group has made its apparel manufacturing factory in Ashuliya earthquake-resistant by systematic retrofitting. “We are confident about structural safety as the factory was constructed as an industrial building,” said Syed AQM Zahid, Managing Director, DK Knitwear who took soft loan of US $ 850,000 for the purpose.
According to Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), the retrofitting initiative, taken in Bangladesh for the first time, aims to help boost the garment sector’s resistance to earthquake-related disasters. Retrofitting is a building technology used to make a vulnerable building earthquake-resistant without demolishing it. Usually, the cost is just 30 to 40 per cent of new construction cost of the targeted building. The retrofitting was carried out under the RMG Sector Safe Environment Project that the Japanese Government initiated through JICA which has created a BDT 100 crore fund with Bangladesh Bank to assist factory owners to construct safer buildings.
