The trend of constructing apartments and commercial buildings without acquiring construction map approval from the Lalitpur Municipality is on the rise. Though the construction drawing approval has to be acquired prior to construction of any structure, developers are going the other way round by asking for it only after constructing the building. However, Lalitpur Sub-Metropolitan City Office (LSMC), the concerned authority has remained a mute spectator to this practice. As there are loopholes in monitoring of the provisions by the municipality, developers are increasingly encouraged to break the rules.

Lalitpur Bishalbazaar Multiplex (LABIM), just opposite to LSMC at Pulchowk, is reconstructing its building without a construction map approval. Similarly, Westar Residency at Balkumari, Landmark Apartment at Dhobighat and Classic Apartment at Hattiban have already completed construction but have not acquired construction map approval yet.

According to the municipality, they discovered a few cases during monitoring whereas other defaulters admitted as they had problems in ownership transfer and other legalities.

“Despite sending legal notice to halt the construction, developers of LABIM are continuing the work,” said Rudra Gautam, Chief of Urban Development Division at LSMC, adding that they can do nothing as it is taken care of by the legal division. However, he has not sent the related file to the concerned department for legal process. “Developers do not give priority to construction drawing approvals before construction as there is weak monitoring mechanism coupled with a feeble penalty,” he said.

“Nominal amount of monetary fine and lack of strict legal action against defaulters are other reasons that encourage this trend,” Gautam added. According to him, 25 per cent of buildings in the municipality were built without construction map approval. Without acquiring construction map approval, owners can neither buy/sell property nor process for loan approval.

As per the Local Self-Governance Act, those who construct buildings without an approval will have to bear double property tax, which amounts to Rs 20 per sq ft and could even face a penalty of up to Rs 100,000. If the building is found to have been constructed violating the by-laws, the municipality even has the right to demolish the structure. However, due to the lack of proper coordination among government authorities, defaulters are having a good time.

Citing that the elongated and cumbersome process to acquire the approvals compelled them to start construction before acquiring approval, Babu Raja Maharjan, Chairman of Classic Developers said, “It is not our desire but compulsion to initiate construction even by paying penalties to accomplish our projects on time.” According to him, it took six years for them to get approval from the Town Development Authority, Environment Impact Assessment and Department of Urban Development and Building Construction (DUDBC) and it will take a few more months to be approved by the municipality.

Complaining that the whole process is tedious and time-consuming, he questioned, “Why do we need to repeat the whole process of acquiring construction approval from the municipality after receiving construction approval from the concerned department?” He urged the government to introduce a one-door system as soon as possible.

“We have already cleared all the payments to municipality but still we have not received construction drawing approval," complained Umang Rana, CEO of Westar Properties, adding that the municipality is delaying the process due to its own internal problems. Stating that they have been paying property tax to the municipality for the last two years, he said that they have not got the approval despite continuous follow up.

“From the site visit to other technical aspects of apartment projects the Department of Urban Development is responsible. And developers don’t bother to take approval from the municipality after taking approval from the department,” informed Khagendra Prasad Wosti, Senior Legal Officer at LSMC. He complained that political interference in these issues has also barred them from taking action against defaulters. Citing that they are short staffed, he said, “The existing work force is not sufficient enough to follow up on the cases.”

According to him, there are only six employees in the department, which is supposed to have some 13 employees.

source: The himalayan times,26 july 2014