Sustainable Building Design and Construction in Nepal with ...

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proven that there is tremendous potential for housing industries in Nepal. Some of the housing companies are joint ventures between companies from neighbouring country and those of Nepal. Also, some of the designs have been done by foreign architects. 3. Major Issues 3.1 Status of Building Structures Most of the structures done by housing developers are with RCC frame and all of them claim that they have designed earthquake resistant structures. Recently government has made it mandatory to adopt The Nepal Building Code for all new constructions. The Nepal Building Code covers all aspects of buildings. It has 23 volumes for Design requirements, Material Specifications, Guidelines, Architectural, Electrical and Sanitary requirements and Safety requirements. This has initiated new problem, what about the buildings built before implementation of this Building Code In my opinion, only option now left for the owners of those buildings is to get assessment of their buildings for structural safety from qualified structural engineers. If the assessment reveals that a particular building is not safe, then the owner of that building should adopt strengthening by retrofitting of the structure. Strengthening by retrofitting of existing structure is a new topic, which is not well known even by most of the practicing engineers, forget about the common public. May this forum members can lend helping hands in training this new subject to Nepalese Engineers. Recently the Kathmandu Metropolitan City and Lalitpur Sub-Metropolitan City have made it compulsory to submit detail structural designs of buildings for getting permission for their construction. Moreover, municipal engineers have started checking the structural designs and making necessary rectifications, if found faulty. This could be considered as a positive step in the field of construction of safe structures. 3.2 Public Perceptions on Safety of Buildings Due to massive publicity by news media about effect of recent tsunami and earthquake in Asia Pacific Region, many individual house builders have shown their concerns regarding the safety of buildings, especially in case next big earthquake occurs. This increased awareness, in itself, is a good sign. However, lot more is desired in making public aware of the affect of earthquake and of a need of constructing earthquake resistant buildings. Recent seismic activity in Himalayan belt shows that there is a slip deficit- a non-recurrence of earthquakes to release the stress that is accumulating. The most notable area of concern is the central Himalayan Gap, a 600 km. long central area of the Himalayas. This area has the potential to generate several earthquakes of magnitude 8 or more. The 600 km. long Himalayan Gap lies in Nepal. A survey carried out by a Japanese team shows that 400,000 people will die and 95,000 will get wounded in Kathmandu Valley, in the event of such an earthquake. Hence, it is imperative that the design and Page 2 of 4
construction of housing must be done, keeping earthquake safety into consideration. More efforts on the part of concerned government and local authorities is needed to make people aware of the gravity of situation. 3.3 Urban Poverty and Implications on Housing. According to Nepal Living Standards Survey (NLSS)/ World Bank (1996), 23 % urban households fall below poverty line, compared to 44 % rural households and 42 % Nepalese as a whole. Due to poverty, people can not consult structural engineers for design of earthquake resistant structures. They construct their houses with the help of local labour contractors, who themselves do not know about construction of safe structures. Moreover, due to low budget, they are forced to use low quality construction materials, resulting in construction of weak structures. Also, use of Low Cost Construction Technology can be helpful to meet the demand of housing for poor people. Some NGOs, like SLTD, Lumanti are active in this field. SLTD is promoting the use of precast light weight slabs, concrete blocks for the construction of low cost and earthquake resistant structures. I think this Forum can come forward in promoting use of such technology, which will go a long way in helping the group in society who can not afford for decent building construction. 3.4 Limitations faced by Private Housing Companies The biggest problem for the housing companies is to find sizeable area within urban area and lack of proper legislation. Hence it will be very fruitful if the housing project and land pooling (adjustment) project go in tandem. This will also serve in sorting out the present regulation of requirement of 7 m wide approach road for housing project. 3.5 Poor Technical Skills of Construction Labor Force Most of the labour force involved in construction is from farming community, without any training in basic construction trade. It will be very beneficial to them, if some sort of training regarding construction technique is provided to them. There are number of schools in Nepal, which could take up initiations in this direction. 3.6 Institutional Issues (Government Institutions, Professional Bodies, Educational Institutions, Contractors Associations) Lack of co-ordination and concerted approach amongst various organizations in the field of planning and construction technology is apparent in Nepal. For example, lack of proper regulatory framework along with a long and tedious land acquisition process contributes to additional costs and time delays during project formulation. It is necessary to formulate a Page 3 of 4
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