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Building Code Implementation Program In Municipalities of Nepal (BCIPN)

BCIPN focuses on assisting the municipal governments in Nepal in enhancing their capacities to develop and administer the building permits and control system for ensuring improved seismic performance of all new building construction. This entails, on one hand , helping the municipalities to develop an effective mechanism for building code implementation, and on the other hand, enhance earthquake awareness of the residents and technical knowledge of the municipal officials, technical professionals on aspects of earthquake risk management including earthquake-resistant design and construction.

Project/ Program Name: Building Code Implementation Program In Municipalities of Nepal (BCIPN)
Duration: Oct 01, 2012- June 30 2017.
Funded by: United States Agency for International Development / Bureau of Humanitarian Assistance (USAID/BHA).
Objectives/Goals: To minimize earthquake risk i.e. no human death due to earthquake damage of buildings, by promoting a culture of safe building construction practices in 24 municipalities of Nepal.
Geographical Coverage: 21 Municipalities & 3 Village Development Committee of Eastern, Central & Western part of Nepal.
Partnership: Department of Urban Development and Building Construction (DUDBC), Municipalities & VDC’s of Eastern, Central & Western parts of Nepal

Key Activities:   

  1. Multiple technical and social training
  2. Assist municipalities to institutionalizing building code implementation
  3. Open street mapping/building inventory database survey
  4. Demonstration of retrofitting of existing buildings.
  5. Urban regeneration of Dolakha Bhimeshwor area.
  6. Metric Addressing system of houses.
  7. Studying Building code implementation.

Action oriented highlights: photos with quotes, short video clips, testimonials, anecdotes etc. (Good Quality Photos Above1MB)

Key Achievement:

  • 1,171 engineers and 4,982 masons trained in earthquake-resistant construction (exceeding targets).
  • Over 95,000 house owners oriented on safer construction (target was 20,000).
  • Building Permit System (BPS) software developed and piloted; compliance checklist and revised permit forms introduced.
  • LDRMP prepared for Vyas Municipality, Urban Regeneration Plan for Dolakha, and model house designs for Bharatpur.
  • Conducted Rapid Visual Damage Assessments (RVDA) of ~15,000 buildings and trained engineers/volunteers for assessments

 

Challenges

  • A large proportion of buildings are constructed without any building permits in most municipalities: to bring them into the building permit system is a challenge
  • As there exists a significant proportion of vulnerable buildings being in use, development of proper regulation for retrofitting of existing building stock is a huge need that demands a careful study and strategy formulated.
  • Negative influence of other neighboring municipalities those without enforcement of building code
  • Problems of municipal planning bye-laws in hilly areas of Nepal, for example a right of way of 30m in a ridge top settlement does not make much sense and hinders any efforts on BCI
  • Lack of standard training curricula in the past has resulted in graduates of different skills and approaches. There is a need also of refresher courses.
  • Unavailability of required manpower at local level
  • Maintaining the quality and standards of the training courses such as of Mason training is another major challenge. There are several organizations involved in conducting several training courses, and it has been observed that many have not been following the standards of the training courses. This has created confusions among the populations and authorities.

Lessons Learned:

  • Comprehensiveness of the program is necessary: building code should be looked at together with the processes pertaining to risk sensitive land use planning, planning by-laws, and overall disaster risk management.
  • There is a need to consider related social aspects – Building code implementation is not only a technical issue but also a social issue
  • A long-term perspective and persistent effort is necessary for the required change in the mind-set of all contributing actors in making the buildings safer.
  • Need to work with wider stakeholders: mason, engineers, house-owners and municipalities, and those who can contribute in risk transfer such as insurance companies, banks.
  • Coordination and collaboration with other organizations working in BCI and regular coordination with government is necessary.
  • Acceptance and involvement of all municipal staff is necessary to get support of the whole municipal office –
  • Formation of mason groups must be a systematic process – needs appropriate policies at national level
  • Refresher Courses for masons and other key professionals need to be formulated and implemented.
  • Guidelines and manuals on quality of materials, and standardization of construction process need to be developed and disseminated.