“There Is Total Disorder In KMC”
-- DINESH THAPALIYA
DINESH THAPALIYA is a newly appointed chief executive at the Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC). A talented bureaucrat, Thapaliya has been appointed to the important position less than a month ago. Thapaliya spoke to SANJAYA DHAKAL on various issues from local governance to waste management. Excerpts:
How have you found the state of the metropolis?
As big as the metropolis is, it is suffering from equally big, if not more, challenges. There are no plans or clear-cut sectoral objectives of the KMC. The institution did not have the plan of where it wanted to head in say ten years from now. Its institution and structure are hollow. The administrative expenditures seem exorbitantly high and the whole organization unmanageably bulky.
What about the recent controversy and problem on the waste management?
This is one issue that has been made most complicated due to political interference, managerial inefficiency, public culture and attitude and legal lacking. The problem has become a chronic one as there is total lack of long-term vision to resolve it. The whole waste management has been going on the basis of ad hocism. I have felt that there should be a number of alternatives for dumping sites. Right now KMC has been spending its resources to transport 240 tons of waste produced by KMC residents and 260 tons of waste produced by residents of adjoining VDCs. Now I want to tell the KMC residents if the KMC should continue to spend their taxes, their resources to transport the wastes produced by VDCs. It costs KMC around Rs 8.2 million to transport and manage the wastes produced by adjoining VDCs.
What could be the solution for sustainable waste management, then?
I think we should set up a Valley Waste Management Authority. This authority can involve private sector in the process, set up treatment plants and take the valley towards the partnership approach. The KMC cannot do all these things.
What about managing the problem of traffic congestion in the city?
I have been talking with the valley traffic police authorities on this issue. We have discussed about the viability of installing CCTV in major points so that the reports of traffic congestion can be passed along to the wider public. This could also help in crime control. We are also discussing about controlling the unauthorized imposition of parking fees in different points of the city. Currently, KMC gets only Rs 3.3 million as parking fees. Most of the time, some clubs or some groups are charging parking fees haphazardly. I want to control this by which I can generate up to Rs 12 million easily. To give you another example of the prevalent disorder in the KMC, there is no record of how much properties and assets we own in the city. There is no information about how much public land there is. I want to declare all the public lands and open lands. Right now, if a major disaster is to strike the city, we don’t even have an adequate open space where people can be put in tents.
What about its economic situation?
There is severe mismanagement of finances. The KMC’s annual resource is around Rs 600 to 650 million – its internal resources generate between Rs 340 to 400 million while the center grants around Rs 240 million. Around Rs 230 million is spent on waste management alone. Another Rs 250 million is needed to service the manpower. What kind of development can we do by the remaining Rs 100 to 120 million? I have found that precious lands and assets have been given away on throwaway prices in the name of long-term leasing. I have already informed you about the mess in parking fees collection. Huge resources are being spent on unproductive sectors like running FM, buying unnecessarily high quantity of time in television and so on. The KMC loses Rs 9 million a year in running the FM alone. Then, there is very bad tradition of giving away resources in the name of financial assistances. All sorts of individuals and organizations keep on knocking KMC’s door asking for financial assistance for one cause or the other. I want to stop this tradition, which is bleeding the metropolis. Overall, the KMC has been losing credibility among contractors and creditors also as there are outstanding amounts going back to ten or more years.
What about its positive aspects?
I am glad you asked this question. As many challenges as there are, the KMC also has huge opportunities ahead of it. If everyone cooperates, I can easily increase the income of the metropolis by Rs 100 to 120 million a year. Besides, I can also cut down administrative costs by 25 percent. In order to garner public support, I want to announce programs in forms of campaigns. For example, I want to announce this year as “Build roads and sanitation year.”
Since you are a bureaucrat, how do you feel about the practice of running local bodies like KMC through government employees?
Since last four years we have seen that the government experimented with different forms of local governance. First it appointed bureaucrats, then it nominated politicians, then again installed bureaucrats which was followed by a mixture of nominated officials and elected ones. And now the government has again fallen back to installing bureaucrats. Looking from the perspective of democracy, this practice is inappropriate. We have to consider few basic aspects such as whether there is people’s access to the local bodies or not, whether the officials are carrying out their responsibilities or not, whether there is transparency and participation or not. Although the functioning by government employees may be responsible and transparent, it cannot ensure public access. There is certain to be huge gap between resources, transparency and accountability. In fact, compared to nominated officials, the bureaucrats’ record in resource spending is impressive. The nominated officials notoriously spent resources without any planning or discipline. The KMC has outstanding amount of Rs 300 million that were spent by the earlier nominated officials.
What can the elected representatives do that you, as a bureaucrat, cannot?
Perhaps, it would have been lot easier for elected officials to raise external assistance and resources. They could have made big political decisions. For example, around 60 percent of constructions within the city are illegal (against existing building codes). It would need a big political backing to correct these sort of things. Perhaps, elected officials would be better prepared to face all kinds of threats that come along with making big decisions. Otherwise, in other areas such as management and planning, I think I can do no less, if not more.
