Kathmandu,
May 5: The provision of tripartite agreement among the house-owner, engineering
consultant and the metropolitan city authorities in the Kathmandu Valley in
building construction has ensured a great adherence to the building codes.
The
agreement has held the second party or the developer responsible for the construction
of the building as per the drawing, design and map approved by the metropolis' Building
Construction Permit Division (BCPD). The developer also has the responsibility
of field supervision, construction consultation, and report the city office if
the house-owner defies the building codes.
It
should submit the report to the BCPD about the application reinforcement bars
in foundation, and slab beam and column as per the structural design. After
receiving the report, the division sends an engineer for the field supervision
of the constructed building and provides the 'completion certificates' when
satisfied with the application of building codes.
The
Kathmandu Metropolitan City Office had been implementing this provision for
more than a decade but the devastating Gorkha Earthquake 2015 had changed the
mindset of both the authorities and general public which resulted in the
application of building codes and mobilising the consultants in monitoring.
"The tripartite
agreement is bearing good results and all the houses built in the city in the
last four years have followed the building code," said Suraj Shakya,
Director of the division.
According to him, the quake
has become a great motivator in the application of building codes as more than
70 per cent people now listen to the engineers rather than masons which was
just the opposite prior to the quake.
The KMC said that more than
90 per cent houses are being built as per engineers' suggestion.
Former secretary of the
government Himlal Subedi said that the new system was effective enough to
maintain the building codes while constructing a house.
"Engineers have made
two rounds to inspect the construction of my under-construction house. At the
same time, we are also conscious to make our houses quake-resistant," he
said.
He is constructing a house
in Maligaun in Kathmandu.
The PCPD had approved 2,718
house designs in the last fiscal year 2017/18 which was up by 176 from the
earlier year. About 2,542 house designs were approved in 2016/17. Similarly, the
number of houses getting 'construction completion certificate' were 1132 in the
last fiscal and 975 two years ago.
Since the last five years,
the BCPD has been issuing construction permit through online system. Of the
2,718 house designs, about 2001 were approved via online system in 2017/18.
Likewise, the number of approvals issued through online system were 2541, 1636
and 947 in 2016/17, 2015/16 and 2014/15.
Meanwhile, the Department of
Urban Development and Building Construction (DUDBC) is mulling to create an
integrated database system to make the monitoring of the building construction
more effective.
"We need to have great
inter-ministry and inter-agency coordination for the database and
implementation of building codes and standards," said a Senior Divisional
Engineer of the DUDBC.
The department is supporting
the city offices with the trainers training on quake resistant house
construction and building codes, and creation of masons.
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