Assignment on

Public Works Department

Course CORD PA-4103

Course title
Urban Development and governance

SUBMITTED TO
Mohammad Razaul karim
Associate Professor
DEPERTMENT OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION
CUMILLA UNIVERSITY

Submitted by
MD.SYEED AFRIDI
ROLL:171941
DEPERTMENT OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION
PUBNA UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
1/8/2021

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Alhamdulillah .First of all thanks to almighty ALLAH for keeping me well for this
Assignment.
I would like to express my special thanks to my teacher ”Mohammad Razaul
Karim, PhD” sir Who gave me the golden opportunity to do this wonderful topic
“Public Works Department (Bangladesh)”,which also helped me in learning and I
came to know about so many new things. I am really thankful to HIM.
Secondly I would also like to thank my parents and friends who helped me a lot in
this Assignment.

ABSTRACT

Public Works Department is a leading Government Department of the Peoples

Republic of Bangladesh. Public Works Department is one of the government
agencies of Bangladesh. This organization is based in Dhaka. It work behalf of the
housing and public works. Which is mainly responsible for the construction and
maintenance of the Government buildings. The department is more than 150 years
old and has a very good reputation in the field of construction. But in the recent
days, this department is losing credibility to its clients. There are many reasons
behind this. But one obvious reason is that the department failed to adopt the new
technologies in general .

CONTAINs
SERIAL TOPIC PAGE NUMBER
NO
2|Page
1 Acknowledgements 2

2 ABSTRACT 2

3 INTRODUCTION 4

4 History 5

5 What PWD Does 5

6 Vision and Mission 6

7 Working Area 6-7

8 Organizational Set Up 7-8

9 Organogram of PWD 8-11

10 PWD Health Wing/ Planning Unit /PWD 11-16

STRUCTURAL DESIGN UNITS/ Electro Mechanical

Unit /MIS Cell PWD Training Academy and
Testing Laboratory/ Wood
Workshop /Arboriculture Division
11 Major Problem or limitation 16-17

12 CONCULATION 17

13 REFFERENCES 17

Public Works Department (Bangladesh)

Introduction
Public Works Department

3|Page
 Formation 1849 BY BRITISH [BY PAKISTAN 1948]

Headquarters Segunbagicha, Dhaka, Bangladesh

Public Works Department or PWD is a government department responsible for

the construction of buildings and structures of government organization and
agencies in Bangladesh and is located in Dhaka, Bangladesh. It is under the
Ministry of Housing and Public Works. Most of the work done by the department
are designed by the government Department of Architecture. Public Works
Department is the pioneer in construction arena of Bangladesh. Over about two
centuries, PWD could successfully set the trend and standard in the country's
infrastructure development. It plays a pivotal role in the implementation of
government construction projects. It also undertakes projects for autonomous
bodies as deposit works. Public works Department has highly qualified and
experienced professionals forming a multi-disciplinary team of civil, electrical and
mechanical engineers who work alongside architects from the Department of
Architecture. With its strong base of standards and professionalism developed over
the years, PWD is the repository of expertise and hence the first choices among
discerning clients for any type of construction project in Bangladesh. Besides
being the construction agency of the Government, it performs regulatory function
in setting the pace and managing projects for the country's construction industry
under the close supervision of the Ministry of Housing and Public Works.
History

We can say that Public Works Department is an old and traditional organization for
Bangladesh let's see history of it.
Bangladesh was under the British rule for one hundred and ninety years. Initially
the British rulers kept their public works limited to the construction of their offices
and residences for officials, a few roads, military cantonments etc. only to meet
their administrative and military need without caring for the benefit of the people
and development of the country. For those purposes, Public Works Department
(PWD) was created in 1849.
Subsequently, construction of limited irrigation and flood control projects,
construction of a few roads, and construction of railway, ports and harbors etc.
carne under the scope of works of PWD. With the passage of time and due to
phenomenal increase in the volume of works, some separate departments/agencies
were created for some of the public works like Flood Control, Irrigation, Roads &
4|Page
Highways, Railway, Ports & Harbors etc. Public sector has its glorious history in
the field of infrastructure development of the country. Since Bangladesh
Government undertook many development schemes to restore the infrastructure of
the war ravaged country and to create new facilities, public sector played a vital
role. Works Department was established in 1948 when Bangladesh was a part of
Pakistan. It is led by a chief engineer. Actually just after the blood shading war of
1971, the presence of private sector was insignificant and it was really the public
sector who took the lead to rebuild the country. Public sector has a record of
constructing a number of beautiful and important works in its book. The
Government hospitals, schools, colleges, universities, cantonments, offices and
residential complexes, dams, embankments, barrages, sluice gates, railway tracks,
roads and high ways etc were constructed through the public sector. Public Works
Department under the Ministry of Housing and Public Works is mainly responsible
for the construction and maintenance of Government buildings of all the ministries
except a few. PWD, government's biggest construction agency, is a specialized
building construction department. It is now mainly responsible for construction and
maintenance of government buildings. PWD is headed by one Chief Engineer.
Four Zonal Chief called "Additional Chief Engineer" are working in Dhaka,
Chittagong, Rajshahi and Khulna. Each Zone is divided into some Circles which
are headed by the Superintending Engineers (S.E) while Executive Engineers work
under S.Es in the district level. Now there are four Zones, thirty two Circles and
one hundred and twenty eight Divisions.

What PWD Does

The contribution of PWD encompasses the entire spectrum of physical and social
infrastructure for national development, national security and international
relations. Its activities span the length and breadth of the country including remote
areas and difficult terrain. The main responsibilities of PWD are shown in
following list. It may be mentioned here that the architectural plans and designs of
almost all Government infrastructural projects are done by the Department of
Architecture in close consultation with PWD.

Vision and Mission

Vision
Ensure Organizational and residential facilities including construction of befitting
infrastructure combatting all the challenges of developing countries under the
development plan of government keeping vision 2021 forward.
Mission
5|Page
Construction of all types of government office building, housing and other
infrastructure with the best implementation of the latest engineering technology in
an environmental friendly, safe and sustainable manner and proper maintenance of
all government KPI installations and all types of public infrastructure.

Working Area
1. Construction and maintenance of government buildings and establishments
2. Ensure proper maintenance and management of government quarantined
properties.
3. Maintain the standard and quality of construction materials.
4. Construction and Maintenance of other Government Structures including
Key Point Installations.
5. Prepare structural and electromechanical design of government installations.
6. Reconstruction, maintenance and renovation of Various Monuments and
Historical Buildings.
7. Maintenance and Development of Public Parks.
8. Fix the rate of rent of government office and residential building.
9. Collection of Non Tax Revenue.
10.Prepare the Rate of Schedule of Civil and Electrical / Mechanical Work.
11.Design and construction of public buildings except those of RHD, T & T
and Postal
12.Construction of Buildings of other agencies on deposit work basis
13.Acquisition and requisition of land for construction work
14.Valuation of land and property and fixation of standard rent
15.Procurement of material and equipment required for construction work
16.Preparation of book of specification for Public Buildings
17.Preparation of book of schedule of rates and analysis of rates for
construction

Organizational Set Up:

PWD is headed by a Chief Engineer, supported at the Head Quarter level by 3

Additional Chief Engineer ( Civil), 1 additional Chief Engineer ( Elect./Mech.), 10
Superintending Engineer,18 Executive Engineers, 44 Assistant Engineers and 40
Sub-Assistant Engineers for planning and design, personnel and establislunent,

6|Page
monitoring, organization and management, audit and accounts. There is one legal
adviser to advise the Chief Engineer in legal matters. PWD has field offices spread
all over the country. Field offices are divided into civil working units and
Electrical Mechanical( ElM) working units. In the field there are four zonal
additional Chief Engineers in four Divisional Head Quarters under whom there are
22 Superintending Engineers, 107 Executive Engineers, 277 Sub-Divisional
Enginers,168 Assistant Engineers and 1307 SubAssistant Engineers both for civil
and ElM works.

A summary of Manpower in PWD is shown below

Chief Engineer 1

Additional Chief Engineer 8

Superintending Engineer 32

Executive Engineer 125

Sub-Divisional Engineer 255

Assistant Engineer 168

Sub-Assistant Engineer 1347

Legal Adviser 1

Executive Officer (Arboriculture) 6

Sub-Divisional Officer ( Arboriculture) 6

Chief Accounts Officer 1

Administrative officer 5

Welfare officer 1

Other class III! class IV staff 19345

Total 21480

7|Page
Organogram of PWD
Md.Abdul Hamid
Honorable President
People's Republic of Bangladesh
Sheikh Hasina
Honorable Prime Minister
Government of the People's Republic of Bangladesh
Engineer Mosharrof Hossain
Honorable Minister
Ministry of Housing & Public Works
Md. Shahid Ulla Khandaker
Secretary
Ministry of Housing & Public Works
Mohammad Rafiqul Islam
Chief Engineer
Public Works Department
ACE= Additional Chief Engineer
SE =Superintending Engineer
EE =Executive Engineer
EO =Executive Officer
SDE =Sub -Divisional Engineer
SDO =Sub -Divisional Officer
AE =Assistant Engineer

2 4 6

8|Page
3

9|Page
 PWD Health Wing
The facilities are to take care of the increasing Health and Family Planning needs
of the people and adequate Nurses, Medical Technicians, Paramedics, etc. Public
Works Department has been working closely with the Ministry of Health and
Family Welfare for a long time for the construction and maintenance of health care
facilities in the country. Most of the healthcare facilities in the country in the past

10 | P a g e
 were constructed by PWD. PWD is still tirelessly working to construct and
maintain all the large hospitals and specialized hospitals.
PWD Health Wing was created on May 27, 1990, headed by an Additional Chief
Engineer to facilitate planning and implementation of all works under the Ministry
of Health and Family Welfare. The Additional Chief Engineer is supported by one
Superintending Engineer, one Executive Engineer, several Sub-Divisional
Engineers, Assistant Engineers, Sub-Assistant Engineers, and other support staff.
Like other units of PWD, Health Wing gets support from the Department of
Architecture and Electro-Mechanical Unit of PWD to smoothly accomplish its
task. It can be mentioned here that construction of hospitals need specialized
knowledge because of many electro-mechanical equipment used for various
purposes. Over the past years, PWD gained invaluable expertise in construction
and maintenance of all kind of health care facilities.
Main responsibilities of PWD Health wing involves
o Maintain close liaison with the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare
and act as coordinator among the field level office of PWD, Department of
Architecture and MOHFW.
o Prepare tender documents and invite tender for the large works under
Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
o Maintain liaison with the Design Division and Department of
Architecture to make the structural and architectural design and drawing
available on time.
o Monitor the physical and financial progress of the projects under
MOHFW and send report to all concerned.
 Planning Unit
Public Works Department has its own planning units which helps it to make proper
plan for any construction or any project. A proper planning of a project is a pre-
requisite and essential first step for its proper implementation. The process starts
with acquisition of lots of information such as the topography and demography of
the location of the project area, soil condition, location of natural water bodies and
ecologically critical areas, water quality etc along with requirement of the client
ministries. Once all these information are available, a rough estimate of the project
cost is prepared by applying best engineering judgment which forms the basis of
DPP to be approved by the Planning Commission. To accomplish this task
properly, PWD has its own planning unit under the leadership of Additional Chief
Engineer (Planning and Special Project). He is supported by two Superintending
Engineers who lead two Project Circles; Project Cicle-1 and Project Circle-2.

11 | P a g e
 There are four Project Divisions under these two Circle offices headed by
Executive Engineers and supported by Sub-Divisional Engineers, Assistant
Engineers and other support staff. There is one Survey Division in the Planning
unit under Project Circle-1 which extends its support in carrying out the
topographic survey of the project area.
The important tasks of planning units are:
o To conduct geographical and topographical survey of the project area
for preparation of architectural plans.
o Preparation, evaluation and processing of building projects for all
Government institutional and residential building complex sponsored by Ministry
of Housing and Public Works.
o Participating in the evaluation of building projects sponsored by other
Ministries of the government.
o Scrutinizing estimates/projects for construction works pertaining to all
other sectors of the government.
o Revision of DPP/TPP for various projects in light with the decisions
taken in the various PEC meetings and the Planning Commission.
o Analyzing Works items and rates of construction which are not
covered by the prevalent PWD Schedule of rate.
PWD STRUCTURAL DESIGN UNITS
PWD structural design unit at its Head Quarter which helps to make a structure
perfect .it basically work on structure and design it headed by an Additional Chief
Engineer (Planning and Special Projects).Under him, there are two design chief
offices called Design Circles, headed by Superintending Engineers (S.E).
The Superintending Engineers are the chief officials for approval of structural
designs. They allocate business to the Executive Engineers and provide them all
sort of guidance relating to quality control, safety, economy, durability, policy
matters, workability in the construction and ethical issues necessary to attain and
maintain highest level of quality in design work.
Executive Engineers are the first level examiner of all design calculations and
procedures in detail. They provide technical guidance to their junior colleagues in
performing their job following the state of the art design principles.
The Engineers under the leadership of Executive Engineers are designated as
Assistant Engineers or and Sub-Divisional Engineers. They are the key persons
who analyze structures, perform calculation and finally accomplish the design
work. In most of the cases, analysis and design are done with the help of latest
12 | P a g e
computer software. In some cases, manual design is also followed to sharpen the
basic knowledge of the designers. Structural drawings and detailing with the aid of
drafting staffs are also done under their supervision.
Generally, the Bangladesh National Building Code (BNBC) is the first principal
guide in designing structures, but other international codes such as codes of
American Concrete Institute (ACI) is also widely used in PWD depending on the
circumstances.
Though the present PWD mainly deals with buildings, but the structural design
does not limited to buildings only. Structures and sub-structures other than
buildings and relevant Infrastructures are well dealt by the PWD design engineers.
PWD design teams put special effort to design earthquake resilient structures, tall
and high-rise buildings and basements. Manuals on earthquake and natural disaster
resilience design are under preparation and would be completed soon.
PWD extends consultancy support to the bodies other than the works under its
rules of business as and when requested through proper channel. Recent example
of such works include works of RAJUK, National Housing Authority(NHA),
BIRDEM, Ready Made Garments sectors, National Heart Foundation, Arch-
Bishops House-Kakrail etc. In case of forensic study of building collapses, PWD
design professionals can contribute and have already contributed substantially.
Drafting personnel in PWD are well experienced. All Drafting work is done in
Auto. Heavy duty printing equipment is available in the drafting units.
PWD design team has developed human resources in the sector of "Building
assessment and correcting measures" and disseminating the knowledge to
professionals through seminar symposium. They are also closely working with
Ready Made Garments (RMG) manufacturers for retrofitting of their buildings for
in-situ safety, seismic resilience and fire hazards.
PWD Design Unit thrives to meet the demand for safe building, and hope to
establish themselves as a dependable group of professionals for safe design of
building across the country.
Electro Mechanical Unit
in our language or in simple language we can say that electromechanical units
main duty is management or maintaining or connecting electromechanical thing of
a construction or project. Electro-mechanical works are internal electrification,
sub-station, HVAC system, elevator/escalators, pump, compound lighting, fire

13 | P a g e
 detection and protection system, building security, building automation, medical
gas pipeline system, stage light and sound system, computer networking system,
solar system, fountain etc. Special knowledge and expertise is necessary for proper
planning and efficient and safe implementation of these works. Public Works
Department has an Electro-mechanical unit to facilitate the planning, design and
implementation of electro-mechanical components of building work.
Electro Mechanical Planning and Design Circles and Divisions are involved in
planning and design of electro-mechanical components of a work, the working
Divisions are responsible for implantation as well as maintenance of such
components in existing infrastructure. Over the past years, officers of PWD E/M
unit are carrying the responsibility of maintaining the electro-mechanical
components of many important buildings of the country such as National
Parliament Building, Bangabhan ( President's House), Office of the Prime
Minister, Gonobhabon, Dhaka Medical College and Hospital, all the hospitals at
SB Nagar Dhaka, Bangladesh Secretariat and many more.
Another important work includes preparation of the book of Schedule of Rates and
Analysis incorporating the items required for construction and maintenance of
public buildings related to E/M work. It is published by PWD E/M unit from time
to time. Being an authentic document, it is not only used by PWD but also used by
other government, semi-government or private sector builders.

 MIS Cell
MIS cell is mainly a supportive unit and it is playing an important role To lead its
journey from an analog to digital PWD. A data center has been established at MIS
cell including all necessary hardware and software support which include servers,
network equipment like core & distribution switches, access switch, routers,
firewalls, SAN system and fiber optic backbone, high-speed Internet, LAN
connectivity etc.
The following services are being provided by MIS cell:
o Network administration and maintenance
o Sharing of services (file service, mail service, database service etc)
through the network
o Hosting of servers for different services (web service, mail service,
domain control service etc)
o Maintaining network and data security
o Client support

14 | P a g e
o Administration and maintenance of Database application/software
(Human Resource Information System, Project Monitoring System etc)
o Data backup and maintenance
o Administration and maintenance of Internet service to all officers of
PWD head office

One of the important and effective e-services are human resource database
development, updating and maintenance through HRIS software. Development and
maintenance of Online Project Monitoring System (PMS) is another software
through which field offices can submit progress and upload pictures of
construction work.
MIS Cell is closely working with the Access to Information Project (A2I) of the
government and involved in piloting National Electronic Service System. It is also
working with CPTU to introduce E-GP in PWD. Besides, MIS Cell is working
with "Development of National ICT Intra-Network for Bangladesh Government
(Bangla Gov Net)" of Bangladesh Computer Council (BCC).
Presently MIS Cell is served by one Executive Engineer, one Sub-Divisional
Engineer, one Assistant Engineer and one Sub-Assistant Engineer
PWD Training Academy and Testing Laboratory
This unit helps engineers or the labor are the employees to get proper training to
cope with new thing. In the present world, science and technology changes very
fast and it is imperative for the professionals to keep themselves up to date.
Training plays an important role in acquiring new knowledge and getting updated
information on various subjects. It also creates opportunity for the professionals to
have practical experiences on various aspects related to their job work.
PWD gives much emphasis on the capacity building of its human resources. Every
year, a good number of officers receive training on various subjects. After
inauguration of its own training academy in 2010, this has got extra momentum.
PWD Training Academy is located at the heart of the city, at the East end Of Bijoy
Sharani and very close to Prime Minister's Office. The academy is headed by a
Director who is of the rank of Superintending Engineer. He is assisted by one
Senior Trainer of the rank of Executive Engineer and one Junior Trainer of the
rank of Assistant Engineer along with other support staffs. Since its inception,
PWD training academy is organizing training courses on different subjects. A
number of courses were based on various technical issues while courses on rules
and regulations of public procurement got proper importance. Beside these, regular
15 | P a g e
course on various computer application software are also conducted to increase the
ICT skill of the employees at various level.
PWD training academy has its own accommodation facilities so that trainees from
distant places can stay within the campus and save time and energy in
transportation and concentrate more in training programs. There is a library room,
TV room and dining room for rest and recreation of the trainees along with
badminton and volleyball playground. The academy maintains close liaison with
other similar government and non- government training institutes. It promotes
exchange of resource persons across such institute to best utilize the expertize of
the resource persons' knowledge and experience.
Being the training academy of an engineering department, it has a modern testing
laboratory which not only helps in providing practical demonstration to the trainees
on various subjects but also being used for testing of materials of the construction
works implemented by PWD.
Wood Workshop
Most of the ornamental and special woodwork of important Government projects
are undertaken by the PWD Wood Workshop Division. The division also supplies
furniture as per the requirements of any Government department.
Arboriculture Division
For creating aesthetically pleasing and environment-friendly surroundings and
landscape as well as maintaining water bodies, lakes, pools etc.

Major Problem or limitation

 Problem related to Organogram of the department:
Poor Support Staff to Chief Engineer at Head Quarter level set up,
Dependency on Department of Architecture, Poor set up in Design, No Post of
Public Relation Officer
 Problem related to Human Resource development
Lack of Training, Improper Distribution of Staff, Negative Attitude Toward New
Technology , Lack of motivation among the staff
 Problem related to Communication system
PWD is still dependent on the traditional communication system. The District
Offices are not connected by internet or intranet. Even the use of Fax is limited.
Because of the question of responsibility, informal communication seldom takes
place
16 | P a g e
  Problem of increase in time and cost of the projects
Delay in Design Divisions, Improper Design, improper Planning
 Problem related to Implementation of work
Insufficient and Improper Fund Flow , Centralized Decision , Making Lack of Co-
ordination between PWD and Clients, No Testing laboratory for every Department,
Insufficient financial power of the PWD officials
 Complex Departmental rules and procedures old rules and procedures only
make the things complicated and lengthy

CONCULATION

At last it can be said Public Works Department is one of the basic element for
construction in our country. It is a Pioneer of our maintenance and building site.
Though it has a lot of problem and limitation but till now it is most faithful and
most efficient for our country.it is one of the basic element are major elements who
is helps us or our country to get more development than usual. We want more
development, Technical and financial efficiency of Public Works Department then
it will be more flourishing then now.

References
o Zulkernine, S. M. {2004-06}”Improvement of the management of
public works department (PWD) through geographic information
system” URI:
http://lib.buet.ac.bd:8080/xmlui/handle/123456789/2084
o Siddiqui, Kamal; Ahmed, Jamshed; Siddique, Kaniz; Huq, Sayeedul;
Hossain, Abul; Nazimud-Doula, Shah; Rezawana, Nahid
(2016). “Social Formation in Dhaka, 1985–2005: A Longitudinal
Study of Society in a Third World Megacity.”
o "Public Works Department". pwd.gov.bd. Retrieved 19
December 2017.
o "Public Works Department". pwd.gov.bd. Archived from the
original on 22 December 2017. Retrieved 19 December 2017.
o "Public Works Department". pwd.gov.bd. Archived from the original
on 16 December 2018 http://www.pwd.gov.bd/site/page/1e28798d-
9f80-4830-8a53-30b14d25b461/-
o PWD Website http://www.pwd.gov.bd/site/page/ed8beb95-6fec-44d4-
bd42-e82fc1a949b7/-

17 | P a g e
o "Public Works Department". pwd.gov.bd. Archived from the original
on 16 December 2018 গণপূর্ত অধিদপ্তরের সাংগঠনিক কাঠামো
http://pwd.portal.gov.bd/site/organogram/

18 | P a g e