Noida authority seeks consent from 17 institutes for building audits.

Ritu Srivastava

The Noida Authority has requested structural audits of buildings in the city from 17 technical institutions, including IITs and CBRI.

The Authority Board passed a structural audit policy for multi-story buildings in November of last year, making it mandatory for developers to submit a report after having the high-rises examined by an accredited institute. According to the policy, this report would be required in order to obtain full or partial occupancy certificates.

However, for existing buildings, the onus was placed on the developer or the AOA to arrange for a structural audit. If at least 25% of homebuyers in a particular society report defects within five years of receiving an occupancy certificate, the Authority will convene a committee to investigate the complaints and determine whether the defects are minor or major.

If the defects are severe, the builder will be required to conduct a structural audit and repair them. If defects are reported five years after receiving an OC, the AOA must intervene and order an audit.

Officials said that while the Authority had written to 17 institutions about becoming empanelled members of the audit team, only seven had responded so far. Among them are IIT-Kanpur, MNIT Prayagraj, BITS Pilani, NIT Jaipur, and CBRI-Roorkee. The policy will be implemented by the Authority after all institutions have signed on, officials said.

"We have sought consent from reputed institutions from across the country to join the panel for structural audit.” “The developer or the AOA, whoever is in charge of managing high-rise apartments, can approach any of these institutions and pay a fee to have a structural audit done," an official said.

He did, however, clarify that the fee would be decided between the developer or AOA and the institute, with no involvement from the Authority.

Following repeated complaints about poor construction standards, and in the aftermath of the Chintels Paradiso collapse, which killed two Gurgaon residents in February last year, the Authority began working on a policy to ensure periodic audits of buildings before and after handover.

Previously, the Authority would issue occupancy certificates for multi-story residential buildings after receiving a letter from the builder, which had been issued by a structural engineer or a technical agency.

There are currently 116 projects in the city. 47 of them are finished, while the rest are in various stages of construction.