Public Works Department

department · verified (verified 2026-05-17)

Profile

Head: Md. Shahadat Hossain
Role: Chief Engineer
Annual budget: —
Staff: 17000
Established: 1962
Legal basis: Originated from the Bengal Presidency's Public Works Department (formally entrusted to provincial government 21 April 1854); reorganized in 1962 when the predecessor Construction and Building (C&B) organisation was bifurcated into PWD (buildings and civil works) and the Roads and Highways Department (roads and bridges); continued under independent Bangladesh post-1971 under the Ministry of Housing and Public Works

PWD is the government's primary building construction and maintenance agency, with its Chief Engineer chairing district-level Building Construction Committees and vetting all structural designs for seismic compliance under BNBC 2020. The BBRA Act (passed 9-10 April 2026) will create a new apex regulatory body under the same ministry, supplementing rather than replacing PWD's construction execution and technical vetting role. Major current execution: Tk 600 crore Sufia Kamal National Library modernisation at 65% completion, delayed to end-2027.

Recent activity

2026-02-17 reform Housing and Public Works Ministry-led interim committee -- chaired by the ministry secretary and comprising the RAJUK chairman and PWD Chief Engineer -- continued preparatory work toward formally establishing the Bangladesh Building Regulatory Authority (BBRA) as mandated by Part-2, Chapter-2 of BNBC 2020; PWD Chief Engineer's seat on the committee confirms the department's central operational role in national building regulation. ↗↗
2026-04-09 legal Bangladesh Parliament passed the Bangladesh Building Regulatory Authority Bill, 2026 on 9 April 2026 as part of a package of 31 bills converting interim-government-era ordinances into permanent law; the Act was formally confirmed as passed on 10 April 2026 per the Housing and Public Works Minister's statement to parliament on 23 April 2026. BBRA will be an apex five-member body (planner, architect, engineer, lawyer or judge, civil servant -- each with 30 years experience) appointed by the government; it will operate under the Ministry of Housing and Public Works and introduce a professional licensing system for building construction practitioners. ↗↗↗
2026-04-23 policy Minister for Housing and Public Works Zakaria Taher informed Jatiya Sangsad that the government ensures earthquake-resilient construction nationwide by enforcing BNBC 2020 and the Dhaka Metropolitan Building Construction Rules 2025; he confirmed that Building Construction Committees in all districts are headed administratively by PWD Executive Engineers, and that structural designs of all buildings under BC Committees are vetted by PWD to ensure seismic compliance. ↗
2026-04-30 other PWD-implemented Tk 600 crore modernisation of the Sufia Kamal National Public Library (Shahbagh, Dhaka) -- being executed under the Department of Public Libraries, Ministry of Cultural Affairs -- reported 65% physical completion; structural construction is complete but electro-mechanical works, import complications, and repeated failed sub-tenders have pushed projected completion to end-2027, three years beyond the original December 2024 target. ↗↗

Provenance & notes

PWD's colonial roots trace to the Bengal Presidency's formal entrustment on 21 April 1854; the modern department as a separate 'buildings' entity was created in 1962 when the unified Construction and Building (C&B) organisation was bifurcated into PWD (civil buildings) and Roads and Highways Department (roads). established_year is set to 1962 (the reorganization creating the current-scope entity), not 1854 (colonial predecessor) or 1948 (Pakistan-era continuity). Chief Engineer Md. Shahadat Hossain: confirmed from PWD official key_personal page (m.pwd.gov.bd/about/key_personal/); head_since is null because no primary source specifies his appointment date. staff_count (~17,000): drawn from the official PWD manpower page structure (825 Class-I gazetted officers, 1,183 Class-II, 3,000+ Class-III employees plus supporting staff across seven zonal offices); this is an approximation, not a single audited figure. annual_budget_bdt is null: PWD does not publish a standalone institutional budget; it executes projects under the parent ministry's ADP allocation (Tk 22,776.40 crore for housing and community facilities in FY2025-26) and its own operational budget is not separately disclosed in accessible sources. BBRA Act: parliament voted on 9 April 2026 (31-bill omnibus session per Dhaka Tribune and UNB); the Housing Minister confirmed to parliament on 23 April 2026 that 'the BBRA Act was passed on April 10, 2026' -- the April 10 date reflects the gazette/assent date while April 9 is the parliamentary vote date; both dates are sourced from primary records and the discrepancy is noted. BNBC 2020 enforcement: PWD Chief Engineer sits on the ministry-led interim committee preparatory to full BBRA formation; PWD Executive Engineers head all district-level Building Construction Committees; structural design vetting by PWD is the current enforcement mechanism. Sufia Kamal Library Tk 600 crore figure: cross-verified TBS (tbsnews.net) and Dhaka Tribune; 65% completion and end-2027 target per Dhaka Tribune (March 2026) and Daily Star. All major claims cross-verified against 2+ independent primary sources.

Public Works Department

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