E-Kantipur

KATHMANDU, OCT 07 -

The government is preparing to start a project to develop the physical infrastructure and expand the capacity of six municipalities with the support of the World Bank in an effort to address the needs of rapid urbanization.

The Urban Governance and Development Programme (UGDP) has selected Mechinagar, Itahari, Dhankuta, Tansen, Lekhnath and Baglung municipalities for intervention. The programme is expected to launch in January 2011. The government and the World Bank will jointly invest US$ 35 million, and GTZ will support the institutional development of the municipalities.

According to the Ministry of Physical Planning and Works, the six municipalities were selected based on the National Urban Policy 2007, their population, possibilities for development, inter-relation with villages and financial capacity, among others.

“Internal migration to cities has increased rapidly along with urbanization and high population growth. However, the existing infrastructure is not adequate to address the needs of urbanization,” said Suresh Prakash Acharya, joint secretary at the ministry.  “This type of project helps local bodies to enhance their governing capacity and develop social and physical infrastructure required by the increasing population in the cities.”

Internal migration to large and small towns along the East-West Highway and the North-South Corridor has risen. As per the National Planning Commission, the population of Kathmandu will double in the next 10 years, and one-third of the total national population will be residing in cities.

Keeping in mind the need for speedy urbanization, the government had started implementing municipal infrastructure development plans through the Urban and Environmental Improvement Project in 2002 in nine municipalitiesKathmandu, Banepa, Dhulikhel, Panauti, Ratnanagar, Bharatpur, Kamalamai, Hetauda and Bidur.

Similarly, the Secondary Towns Integrated Urban Environment Improvement Project is being carried out in Biratnagar, Butwal and Birgunj with joint funding by the government, the Asian Development Bank, the OPEC Fund for International Development and the respective sub-metropolitan cities and municipalities.

The UGDP is the first project dealing with physical infrastructure development of municipalities being funded by the World Bank. “A pre-feasibility study of the UGDP is already complete. We have just started a detailed study,” said Acharya. “Hopefully, implementation will start by January next year.”

The UGDP is mainly targeted at expansion of socio-economic infrastructure, road construction, sewage and waste management, drinking water and capacity building of the municipalities. The contributions of the government and the World Bank, municipal-wise resource allocation and target activities will be known only after the detailed study which is expected to be finished by January, said the ministry.

Posted on: 2010-10-07 10:22

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