Kathmandu: In an alarming revelation, a latest inspection carried out by the government has found that majority of developers running various housing and apartment projects in the Kathmandu valley have grossly violated the set norms and rules to assure safety and quality of houses and apartment blocks.

While some have started constructions without getting their designs and map endorsed, others have not even bothered to carry out environmental impact assessment (EIA), something which is compulsory by the law.


These cases were disclosed when the Department of Urban Development and Building (DoUDB) and Kathmandu Valley Town Development Committee (DVTDC) conducted field inspection and studied documents of 85 ongoing housing projects in the valley.

"If the report submitted by the inspection team is anything to go by, then we can safely conclude housing developers in the valley have grossly challenged the standard procedures and norms and cheated the customers in the process," Tulasi Prasad Sitaula, secretary at the Ministry of Physical Planning and Works, told the Republica on Saturday.

He said the ministry will take stern action against erring developers as soon as it formally concludes studying the report. Sitaula said the team has found no weaknesses in the quality of main structure of the housings, which means they are safe.

The inspection team has also reported that most of the housing developers have even sold out their proposed apartment units to customers, taking advance payment from them years before the construction began, and said that such a practice is illegal.

"Practice of selling apartments before the construction is a violation of existing rules. Sadly, this seems to the trend in the market," said Sitaula, adding that the ministry would soon carry out similar inspection of housing projects implemented outside the valley as well.

The ministry has carried out the inspection after Minster for Physical Planning and Works Hridayesh Tripathi, referring to the growing complaints of violation of norms and rules by the housing companies, directed DoUDB and DVTDC to inspect the housing projects across the country.

Clarification sought from 149 contractors

On the back of growing complaints against the contractors for not following the construction agreement, the MoPPW had sought clarification from 149 contractors including Class ´A´ contractors.

"In response to our instruction, all 149 contractors have submitted their clarifications and we will decide about the course of action after studying the clarifications," he said. Tripathi had instructed the ministry officials to immediately seek clarifications from the contractors for ignoring the construction agreement and consultants for failing to fulfill their responsibility.

Similarly, Tripathi has also instructed the ministry officials to settle the outstanding advances issued by the ministry and agencies under it in couple of weeks. An estimated Rs 3 billion has been released in the form of advances for different proposes.

source:PRABHAKAR GHIMIRE,myrepublica, 6 Nov 2011