Kathmandu, February 5:

Five years have passed since the government introduced the building codes, but the Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC) still lacks a monitoring mechanism for their implementation.

“We are unable to regularly inspect the buildings, as KMC lacks manpower and a specific unit for monitoring,” said Bimal Rijal, head, Urban Development Department, KMC. He added that people had to fill forms of both building bylaws and building codes to build houses within the city before they could get their blueprints approved.

He said the codes were aimed at minimising damages during disasters like earthquakes. He also added that there wasn’t any mechanism to check the standard of the materials used in building construction. He said that KMC alone could not take the initiative to check the quality of the materials.

He, however, said KMC carries out inspections if specific complaints are filed in the metropolis.

Ram Bahadur Thapa, division head of map approval section at KMC, said the designers should strictly follow the codes and they should bear the responsibility if unexpected damages are caused by earthquakes.

The building code was introduced in 2003.