Kathmandu: Violation of bylaws and codes in the house construction is rising after the authorities failed to monitor and take action against the guilty.

According to the Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC), there are 110,000 houses in the only metropolis of the country. About 4,000 new houses are added every year.

However, neither the municipal authorities nor the Department of Urban Development and Building Construction (DUDBC)

has been able to monitor the situation and take action as per the rules.

“Though the municipal authorities approve the map of the site for construction in a phase wise, the monitoring is very rare,” said Ram Thapa, senior engineer at the KMC.

The building bylaws have provisioned the area of site not less than 2.2 anas, with defined floor area, height of the building, space and distance from streets.

The Building Code mainly concentrates on safety measures, quality of construction, size and environment of the house area, according to the DUDBC.

There must be 20 per cent open space and 80 per cent coverage of a building at the site up to 8 anas while 40 per cent open space and 60 per cent coverage is a must in a site more than 8 anas.

“However, people usually build houses in a smaller size than provisioned in the bylaws,” said Thapa.

It is illegal to construct a house higher than 45 feet (five-storey building) in the core city areas such as New Road Ason and other old residential areas. “The violation of rules is rampant in these areas,” said Thapa.

The rules are different for commercial areas and high-rise buildings in the Kathmandu Valley. The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) blamed the KMC for allowing people to construct taller buildings around the Tribhuvan International Airport and it affected the communication system at the airport, which was halted for hours recently.

“This may not be true. International Civil Aviation Organisation is the authority to measure it,” said officials at the Urban Development Division of the KMC. “We can not say anything about it,” they said.

There is a different rule in building houses around the TIA. “After the approval from the CAAN, the KMC allows to construct high-rise buildings in the airport area,” said Thapa.

Ashok Nath Uprety, Director General at the DUDBC under the Ministry of Physical Planning and Works, said the municipals were given the authority as per the Local Self Governance Act to approve building maps and monitor standards. We only formulate policies, designing and construction of government buildings,” he claimed. The DUDBC has no accurate data of buildings in the Kathmandu Valley. “Each municipality keeps own records,” said Uprety.

source: The Himalayan Times(2011),"Violation of building codes rife in Valley ", The Himalayan Times, 27 June 2011