Emphasis on Public-Private Partnership and Integrated Housing Development in Post-Disaster Reconstruction

Kathmandu. Stakeholders have emphasized the need to advance integrated housing development through public-private partnership (PPP) for sustainable post-disaster rehabilitation and reconstruction.

At a panel discussion held on Saturday under the 'Nepal Land, Housing and Construction Expo-2083', organized by the Nepal Land and Housing Development Association and the Nepal Land and Housing Development Federation, and co-organized by the Nepal Chamber of Commerce, on the occasion of the 75th Diamond Jubilee of the Nepal Chamber of Commerce, at Bhrikutimandap in Kathmandu, speakers stated that disaster risk reduction should be linked with housing and urban development planning.

In the discussion, Prakash Aryal, Deputy Development Commissioner of the Kathmandu Valley Development Authority, said that risk identification must be done before construction to reduce human and physical losses from disasters. He said it is necessary to make risk communication and preparedness systems effective and to link the building construction permit system with the overall construction process.

He stated that a comprehensive integrated policy is necessary to manage settlement development in river corridors and risky areas. He said that if risk, the population at risk, and the status of property are linked with housing plans and investment, damage from disasters can be reduced.

Aryal said that although there are laws and building codes related to building construction, effective implementation still remains a challenge. Mentioning that practices such as electronic building permit systems are progressing in local levels, he pointed out the need to revise the building code in a timely manner considering seismic risk. He argued that integrated monitoring, early warning systems, and risk-sensitive planning should be linked to the construction system to protect against natural disasters like the Rasuwa flood.

Deepak Kumar Malhotra, Senior Vice President of the Nepal Chamber of Commerce, said that a business-friendly policy is necessary for the housing and real estate sector. He said that since the government formulates policies and the private sector invests and develops accordingly, effective collaboration between both parties is necessary.

He said that due to the lack of practical policy and legal arrangements regarding the sale of apartments to foreigners in Nepal and the transfer of ownership of common areas in joint and collective housing, the matter has not yet been fully regulated. He mentioned that although some issues were addressed through the budget, the necessary policies have not yet been fully implemented. He suggested that the government and private sector should collaborate to build 'affordable housing' targeting the middle class and flood victims.

Malhotra mentioned that about 240 industries and businesses are directly and indirectly linked to the real estate sector, and said that activities in this sector have a positive impact from construction materials to the financial and service sectors. He emphasized that housing development work should be advanced through the public-private partnership model in all seven provinces of Nepal.

'The tendency to view everyone investing in real estate as land traders must change,' he said, 'Since the economy runs on investment, a positive environment must be created for investment in the housing and infrastructure sector.'

Architect Nabin Devkota of the Society of Nepalese Architects (SONA) said that the main problem in Nepal is not the lack of policies and laws related to housing and land development, but rather weaknesses in implementation and strategy. He stated that Nepal, like developed countries, needs standards-based housing development, and said that conflicts between various policies and regulations are creating problems.

He said that uniform implementation of the building code across the country has not been possible, monitoring is weak, and wrong practices in engineering approval must be controlled. Emphasizing the need to institutionalize the role of expertise in the building construction permit process, he held the view that local levels should not view building construction merely as a source of revenue.

Architect Biresh Shah, Director of the Kathmandu Institute, said that urban development should not be viewed from the perspective of a single subject. According to him, urban development requires coordination of various subjects including economics, community, culture, environment, geography, sociology, and architecture. He said that the planned urban development practice started in Nepal about 60 years ago should be revised according to time. He stated that road and physical infrastructure construction alone should not be considered the basis of urban development.