Beginning next week, local bodies across the country are set to implement government’s revised urban planning and building construction guideline which prescribes new methods for building designs and settlement development as felt necessary after the earthquake.

The government had approved Basic Guideline on Settlement Development, Urban Planning Building Construction 2015 formulated by Ministry of Federal Affairs and Local Development on August 14 and had directed all municipalities and VDCs in the country to issue new building permits accordingly after approving the guideline within a month through special council.

According to Gopi Krishna Khanal, chief of Municipality and Environment Management Division at MoFALD, the guideline will come into effect in all local bodies in the country from September 18. It will address shortcomings of National Building Code of 2007 till new building code is formulated by January next year, he added.

As per the guideline, roads in new settlements have to be at least six metre wide for being eligible for constructing buildings while roads in existing settlements should be at least four metre wide. Likewise, residential buildings cannot cover more than 70 percent of land for plots up to 250 square metres and the ceiling is fixed at 60 percent for larger plots. Another major change is that outer pillars of a building or isolated column footing should be built at least one metre within the boundary of the plot.

The guideline also states that fences around a house should not be taller than four feet but installing safety nets up to three feet high on top is allowed. The guideline also makes soil testing and seismic analysis mandatory for constructing buildings taller than five storeys (17 metres), also called high-rise buildings.

As local bodies face difficulty in enforcing the guideline, Khanal said each municipality will now have two engineers for the purpose. “We are also preparing to place engineers in all VDCs and will train masons and labourers according to new guideline,” he said.