NOIDA: In the aftermath of the Nepal earthquake, experts are advising third-party auditing for construction projects, to ensure the city's development conforms to its master plan. They say third party involvement will make developers and their apex bodies more responsible. So far, all that developers do is submit structural certificates with the development authority, before applying for a clearance of their layout plan and finally, the completion certificate.

Experts said there is a general perception that master plans by development authorities can be violated easily in India. Third party auditing is a good recourse to address this issue. Former town planner at Noida authority, Rajpal Kaushik told TOI that Noida is one of India's most well-planned cities. By introducing third party auditing, developers can be made more responsible. "Architects, engineers and developers submit several certificates to the development authority, to ensure conformity of project to the sanctioned plan. A structural safety certificate is submitted at the time of applying for clearing the layout plan and obtaining a completion certificate. With big firms often involved in the projects, officials are often found to take the certificates at face value, without inspecting whether they are fake or if standards were compromised for the project," he said.

"To keep tabs, the authority needs to carry out timely checks. That is why, by reducing chances of wrong practice, third party auditing can ensure stronger implementation of the master plan and fixing of responsibility," he added.