The naksha pass prakriya, or the building approval and registration process, is not an easy job but the burden of getting it done can be lessened if you know the actual process and prepare for it ahead of time.

Many people hesitate to get official works done from government offices in Nepal. The process is often unreasonably lengthy, full of hassles and people normally don’t know the process (how, where, and whom).  The public are often unaware of the documents that are needed before and during the process.  Files get stuck in the middle of the process because of some missing documents. There is usually no information on the notice board that could guide the public. Even if there is any information, it takes forever to find it. To avoid such hassles and save time, people often hire agents to get their work done.

Naksha pass prakiya is the government process to register the blueprint of your building such as office or home.  It is important to register the blue print in your respective municipality or VDC.   In Nepal there is one metropolitan city and four submetropolitan cities: Kathmandu is the metropolitan city and Lalitpur, Bhaktapur, Pokhara, Biratnagar and Birgunj are sub metropolitan cities. Municipalities, VDCs and ward offices deal with building registration, and the sad part here is many people have no idea what and how will they start their process, and in some case they get frustrated and are forced to pay extra money to agents to get their work done. There are lots of people to blame and we can blame the whole system as well but playing the blame game will not make your work easier nor will it help you complete your documents to move your file forward. It’s you who has to prepare the documents for your own file, even if you hire an agent before and during. So what documents are needed to start the process of registering a residential building in Kathmandu?  Let’s have a look.

The Initial documents

Yes, of course you need an architect or an engineer to undertake land measurements and building plans but the plans and measurements will not be enough to finish your files. You will need to complete an application form of the municipality. In general you would need: the official land registration certificate i.e. lal purja (1 copy), National ID card (1 copy) on whose name the building will be; land tax payment receipt from the respective ward i.e. malpot (1 copy); the details of the land owner of the lands that surrounds your land i.e. char killa; the official blue print of your land taken out from the Malpot office; and at least two copies of Architectural Drawings and structural drawings of your building design. The Kathmandu Municipality has also made it mandatory to include Electrical and Sanitary drawings and a Structural Analysis Report along with the file. The file is now ready to start the table journey, but before that we need to register the necessary details electronically as well.

Electronic Building Permit System (EBPS)

The EBPS system has been implemented in all municipalities within Kathmandu Metropolitan City from this fiscal year 2073-74. This is a very innovative system to upload all of your collected documents and information electronically.  We can also track the position of the file in order to know the status of the work through the system. The EBPS login account is provided to registered Architects and Engineers in Kathmandu Municipality. The architects that you have hired enter all the required information from personal details to the structural details of the building.  The required building information includes the area of the floors, the storey height, sanitary details, and electrical details. The hard copies of the collected documents are scanned and the architectural drawings are uploaded through this system and saved.

The journey begins…

The file starts its journey with the initial checking. The first check will be of the land and the roads beside it. They will check whether or not necessary setbacks have been provided according to the type of the road. Then the architectural drawings are checked and the information on the paper and EBPS portal are tallied.  Once the initial checking is done, the file is sent for the payment section. The payment is done according to the type of building and the municipality charges fees based on the square feet. After the payment, the file has to be taken to the respective ward office where after receiving the file the engineer goes for a site visit and checks the measurement of the land. If the measurement and the drawings are in agreement then a 15-day notice is put on the ward office for the char killa. The notice states that if there are any objections regarding the land or the design of the building then the land owner of the surrounding can come and stop the process stating why the building should be stopped. If there are no objections then the surrounding land owners will be made to sign the no objection part on the file and is scanned and uploaded to the EBPS portal. The ward engineer then signs the architectural drawings approving the design and then the file is again taken to the municipality office. If there are any notes or remarks then it is written under the “For official use only” section of the drawing.

The file is then moved forward and now the structure design, electrical drawings and sanitary drawings are checked. You need a proper structure design as per the National Building Code of Nepal or the Indian Standards Code. The structure designer should have five years of professional experience. The best way to check that is to ask the Nepal Engineers’ Association’s certificate. The registered date should be not less than five years old. Since the structure is the sensitive part, the municipality’s engineer might ask you to bring the structure designer to amend the design where necessary. The structure designer should fill out the necessary forms in the file and also upload the soft copy of the design in the EBPS portal.

The ijajat patra

The first certificate that is given out after the necessary formalities have been finished is the permission certificate. This certificate will let you start your construction and is valid until the construction has reached the plinth level. The plinth level is the finished floor level of the ground floor. After the work of the plinth level is completed we again have to call upon the engineers from the municipality where they will check whether the construction is according to the design. After verifying all the items on the checklist the visiting engineer signs the file approving the construction. Then the owner needs to paste the photograph of the top view of the plinth level on the file and then again take that to the municipality. It is advised that the construction process should be stopped until and the second certificate has been issued.

The whole process generally takes around two weeks to complete if there are no major technical difficulties. First, a certificate is provided to the owner which gives them the green signal to start construction. Second, engineers are called after the completion, to check if the construction is being completed according to the plan. If everything is according to the drawings then the final certificate the owner is given is the bhawan nirman sampanna certificate i.e. the building completion certificate.

Building Completion Certificate

This final certificate is the most important certificate, without which certificate the owner will not be able to transfer the ownership legally to another person. Also, the banks demand this certificate if the house to be used as a collateral.  You cannot also insure your house without this certificate. And if you are giving the space for rent to any government office, they would demand this certificate for security. Hence without this certificate the building will not be fully registered, which might bring unwanted problems in the future.  In order to get this certificate the building area should not exceed what is stated on the drawings, that is, the external design should be according to the architectural drawings presented on the file. If there are any changes in the area, the owner should inform the officials immediately.  If the changes are against the law then the final certificate will not be given at the end.

These are the basic steps to register your building legally. The process is quite lengthy as such you would need to plan ahead in order to avoid any problems. Not every municipality has the same process for registering the building, and the process different from municipalities to VDCs, but the processes all similar. The process is lengthy and in some cases they may delay the process because of technical problems or because of legal disputes that on your land.  But if the design and file are all clear, then the process should not take extra time. Many service seekers complain that the officials in the municipalities are not so responsive, but dealing with thousands of files a day and talking with hundreds of people everyday can be quite stressful. If it is their duty to make us understand this process, it’s also our responsibility to prepare ourselves with necessary papers and information. If we do that, the process of registering building blueprints (naksha pass prakriya) becomes much easier.