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Birth of new municipalities aborted
KATHMANDU, MAY 22 -
The government is set to shelve its plan to declare 41 new municipalities in view of the current political situation. Officials at the Ministry of Local Development (MoLD) said that the plan would be terminated, as the declaration of municipalities would affect the government’s state restructuring plan.
“The government reached a conclusion that it would be inappropriate to declare new municipalities unless the state restructuring issue was settled,” said Dinesh Kumar Thapaliya, spokesman at the MoLD.
The government had decided to announce new municipalities after newly emerged cities mounted pressure on the MoLD. Local Development Minister Purna Kumar Sherma had announced in last June that the government would declare new municipalities within 100 days.
Thapaliya said the ministry is set to terminate the plan although a final call on the issue is yet to be taken.
The officials maintain that the plan proposed nearly a decade ago is outdated and thus needs review.
“The plan should be reviewed in view of considerable changes in terms of population and infrastructure in the proposed municipalities,” said Thapaliya.
In 2002, the government had formed a commission led by Surya Lal Amatya to study feasibility of the new municipalities. It had recommended declaration of at least 41 new municipalities.
Approving the plan, the Election Commission (EC) had recommended MoLD to declare municipalities before the elections. The EC should approve the government’s proposal to announce new municipalities as per the law.
The successive governments accorded top priority to this issue, however they failed to put required efforts to implement the much-touted plan, said Thapaliya.
This time around, the MoLD is planning to submit a proposal to the government seeking funds to launch urbanisation programme.
As per the programme, the proposed municipalities would be brought under certain criteria for proper development.
“Certain criteria will be enforced for the construction of houses, roads and drainage
system,” said Thapaliya. Currently, there are 58 municipalities all across the country.
Posted on: 2010-05-23 08:42
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