The Ministry of Urban Development has started the 'Nepal National Building Code Compliance Promotion Project for Safe Building Construction' with the support of Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). According to the ministry, this project will play an important role in increasing the knowledge and awareness of house owners, builders and technicians.

According to the Nepal National Building Code, this project will help to implement the building code in a more effective manner in the houses and buildings that will be built by enhancing the design, the inspection during the construction phase, the supervision ability of the technicians, and the ability to maintain the quality of the builders.

Seven municipalities of the valley (Lalitpur Metropolitan Municipality, Tokha Municipality, Mahalakshmi Municipality, Tarakeshwar Municipality, Dakshinkali Municipality, Suryavinayak Municipality and Bagmati Village Municipality) were selected as pilot municipalities and this project was started from 2021. The project aims to build earthquake-resistant buildings by improving the procedures for applying for building permits, design checks and inspections during construction in municipalities and increasing the rate of compliance with building codes and building standards.

'There does not seem to be uniformity in the implementation of building standards, building regulations, and building codes applicable when passing the map of new buildings,' the statement issued by the ministry states, 'This means that most municipalities do not have standards and even if they do, the standards are not sufficient or met.'

According to the ministry, due to the lack of physical development, planning, implementation of standards and regulations, the rapid urbanization in such municipalities will lead to chaos in the future. There is a need to specify and regulate the urbanization process in the municipalities to create a clean, healthy, sustainable and livable urban environment and proper compliance with building construction standards prepared on scientific basis. is .

'For building construction in Nepal, there is the Nepal National Building Code and different municipalities/villages have their own building standards,' the statement says, 'to construct a building, the home owner must first obtain a building permit from the municipality.' According to the ministry, to get permission, the house owner should prepare the design and map of the house according to his needs and submit it to his municipality-village in full compliance with the building standards and the building code.

If the design and map submitted in this way are in accordance with the building standards and the building code, the municipality will check and issue a building permit. The houses constructed according to the map and following the building code and building construction standards after passing the map from the municipality are earthquake resistant .

Houses constructed without following building codes and building standards can be damaged during an earthquake. Also, such houses can also endanger neighboring houses . It is found that some house owners have started construction of houses without obtaining building permission from the municipality . Various studies have shown that the rate of houses constructed in compliance with building codes and construction standards in Nepal is not satisfactory. In order to solve these problems, it is necessary to bring uniformity in the understanding of all stakeholders regarding the Map Pass process and to enhance the capacity of stakeholders, according to the ministry.