Quamrul Islam Siddique, former Secretary at the Bangladesh Ministry of Works and Housing, died of a cardiac arrest on 1 September 2008 in New Jersey, USA, aged 63.

Siddique was an architect of rural infrastructural development in Bangladesh and the founder of the Local Government Engineering Department at the country's Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives (LGED).

While he was Chief Engineer at LGED, Siddique introduced many innovations, including rubber dam technology for dry season water conservation and a nationwide rural infrastructure planning network. He was also instrumental in introducing hill-specific technologies in the Chittagong Hill Tracts Region.

He was the first Chairperson of the Global Water Partnership, South Asian Region in 2003 and 2004 and, more recently, of the Bangladesh Water Partnership.

Quamrul Islam Siddique, who played an active part in the war of liberation in Bangladesh, leaves behind a wife, a son and three daughters.

Web site: LGED

Source:The New Nation, 02 Sep 2008

Tags: governance, rural wash, south asia, water resources management