KATHMANDU, Oct 3: The government has registered a new Building Bill in parliament aimed at ensuring the right to housing for citizens, with provisions for housing support for low-income families and subsidized housing for middle-income households.
Taking to social media on Saturday, Prime Minister Balen Shah said the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure Development registered the Building Bill 2083 BS at the Federal Parliament Secretariat on Friday.
The proposed legislation includes provisions for providing free river-based and natural construction materials to Nepali citizens building a house for the first time, based on government-approved designs and standards. Similar assistance has been proposed for citizens seeking to construct livestock sheds.
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The bill also proposes housing grants of up to Rs 75,000 for poor and disadvantaged citizens. Of this amount, Rs 50,000 would be provided by the federal government and Rs 25,000 by provincial governments, according to Shah.
The government has also proposed relocating disaster-affected, unsafe and vulnerable settlements to safer locations and constructing new houses for affected residents.
For middle-income families, the proposal envisages safe, earthquake-resistant and basic-standard smart homes costing between Rs 2 million and Rs 7.5 million, with a plinth area of 900 to 1,300 square feet.
Shah said such houses would be made available through subsidized financing. Under one proposed option, buyers would make an initial payment of Rs 500,000 and pay Rs 11,000 in monthly instalments for up to 15 years.
Other proposed payment options include an advance payment of Rs 1 million followed by monthly instalments of Rs 15,000; Rs 1.5 million followed by Rs 20,000 per month; Rs 2 million followed by Rs 30,000 per month; and Rs 2.5 million followed by Rs 35,000 per month.
The bill, according to the prime minister, is intended to provide a legal framework for ensuring housing for Nepali citizens, ranging from basic housing support for low-income families to safe and organized housing options for middle-income households.
