Urban Governance In Nepal

By Dr. BISHWA KESHAR MASKAY

Nepal's general underdevelopment, subsistence level of industrialization and inability of the government to break the formidable obstacles down to initiate and sustain economic growth so vital to modernization of societies have been critical obstacles to urban governance. Urban development as the central building block of economic development also suffered owing to the lack of genuinely decentralized local self-governance. The autonomy of urban governance has been postulated in the Constitution of Nepal, Ninth Five Year Plan (1998-2002) document and recently promulgated Local Self-Governance Act 1999. Grossly inadequate infrastructures in education, health, transportation, communication and industrial infrastructures and low economic growth in rural areas as well as rapidly increasing population have triggered rural to urban migration in search for jobs and urban facilities which are already over-stretched and over crowded. The rapid increase in municipalities (now 58) in the country is less the effect of industrialization than growing insecurity at rural areas, concentration of facilities in urban nodes and the phenomenal increase in the bureaucracy. Nearly one fourth of municipalities is devoid of basic urban characteristics-- even roads, drinking water and electricity.

While there is an overwhelming pressure for expanded public utilities and welfare services, Nepal has neither developed productive base of the economy nor adequate funds to support them, not even financial and administrative means to meet the basic requirements of the public services. Kathmandu, the capital city, is a metropolis, Lalitpur, Biratnagar and Pokhara, the sub-metropolis and the rest are municipalities. Yet, the patterns of urbanization are neither regionally balanced nor based on genuinely decentralized functions and, therefore, they are less helpful to rural areas as they seek to achieve economic take off and modernization. Ironically, they are appropriating rural surplus--capital, labor, resources and skilled personnel--thereby draining the vital resources for social transformation of rural Nepal.

The Local Self-Governance Act 1999 provides adequate legal framework. The two projects- Urban development through Local Efforts and Department of Housing and Urban Development continue to integrate urban planning for local development. Some sort of financial autonomy has been granted to municipalities for the collection of local taxes and fees. A Financial Management Program operates in collaboration with the Municipal Organization Development and Administration, which helps in carrying out urban governance.

Decentralized urban governance is the key to achieve higher and shared economic growth, that is, growth with equity. Yet, the problems in decentralized urban planning in Nepal are enormous: lack of proper data base, delay in budget disbursement and no timely facilitation from the central governance, lack of technical skills among in civil servants and elected representatives about decentralized planning, weak co-ordination among sectoral agencies, lack of people's participation and conflicts among political parties, all of which affect the coherence and self-governance, especially urban governance.

Suggestions for Reform

The Local Self-Governance Act 1999 provides adequate legal provisions for the promotion of urban governance. The two projects urban development through local efforts and the department of housing and urban development continue to support urban planning for local development. A financial management program operates in collaboration with the municipal organization development and administration, which helps in executing urban governance program. These are essential measures but by no means, sufficient unless there is a paradigm shifts from concentrating urban power and fragmenting rural areas.

A new paradigm requires balanced regional development, stimulating the growth potential of rural areas and checking rural to urban migration. This is especially important to curb the tendency of globalization to accelerate flow of capital, technology and knowledge to urban areas at the cost of rural ones. The state has special role to play in the social sector of rural areas and build rural urban linkages where each compliments the other. Enhanced domestic and donor's support for family planning services, reproductive health care, education of young men and women to stabilize birth control and creation of better environment in both rural and urban areas are required to make urban governance sustainable.

Urban authorities of Nepal try to vitalize their federation to make it a lobbying point while at the same time make it a forum for civil society, NGO and citizen interaction about the transparency, accountability and responsiveness in functioning, strengthening human resource management and public private partnership. External support, especially INGOs, MNCs, bilateral and multilateral donors, is specially required for networking of urban governance and sharing of experiences, training expertise, technical support to social and environmental sectors and managing change.

The local self-governance Act 199 provides adequate legal provisions for the promotion of urban governance.The two projects urban development through local efforts and department of housing nd urban development continue to support urban planning for local development.A financial management program operate in collaboration with the municipal organization development and administration,which helps in executing urban governance program. These are essential measures but by no means, sufficient unless there is a paradigm shifts from concentrating urban power and fragmenting rural areas.

A new paradigm requires balanced regional development, stimulating the growth potential of rural areas and checking rural to urban migration.This is especially important to curb the tendency of globalization to accelerate flow of capital, technology and knowledge to urban areas at the cost of rural ones. The state has special to play in the social sector of rural areas and build rural urban linkage where each compliments the other. Enhanced domestic and donors support for family planning services, reproductive health care, education of young men and women to stabilize birth control and creation of better environment in both rural and urban areas are required to make urban governance sustainable.

Excerpts of the paper presented at a seminar Managing Asia Pacific Mega Cities