Construction Law
We maintain a dedicated construction practice serving Nepal’s fast-growing infrastructure landscape. Roads, airports, hydropower plants, bridges and cable cars are being built across the country, with much more still at the planning stage. We have served the whole industry involved in that work: project owners, construction managers, engineering firms, contractors, subcontractors, architects, suppliers, real estate developers and government entities.
The Legal Framework
Building activity is governed primarily by the Building Act, 2055 (1998), which regulates construction works, sets out the National Building Code and establishes classification, permitting and supervision requirements aimed largely at earthquake and fire safety, a priority that matters more here than in most jurisdictions. Construction businesses themselves are regulated under the Construction Business Act and related rules governing contractor licensing and classification.
Environmental compliance runs through the Environment Protection Act, 2076 (2019), which requires a Brief Environmental Study, an Initial Environmental Examination or a full Environmental Impact Assessment depending on a project’s scale. Public projects additionally engage the Public Procurement Act, 2063 (2007), which governs tendering and makes arbitration the default route for disputes under public procurement contracts where amicable settlement fails.
Enforcement of building standards has historically been uneven in Nepal. For owners and contractors alike, that gap is exactly why getting permitting and compliance right from the outset, and documenting it properly, matters as much as the construction contract itself.
What We Do
- Construction contracts: negotiating and drafting the contracts a project runs on, tailored to the project rather than a generic template.
- Project financing advisory: the legal side of the commercial and banking arrangements a project depends on.
- Bidding and public procurement: support from tender preparation through to award.
- Permits, land use and environmental compliance: obtaining the permits and clearances a project requires and advising on land use throughout.
- Project development advisory: guidance across the full process from planning to completion.
We work to reduce risk before it becomes a dispute. Where disputes do arise, we advise on mediation, arbitration and litigation and have represented clients before dispute adjudication boards and in ad hoc and institutional arbitration, which is where most high-value construction disputes in Nepal are ultimately resolved.
Our Approach
Our role is to help a project get built efficiently and cost-effectively, managing risk and preventing disputes as far as possible rather than only stepping in once something has gone wrong.
