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Traffic Travails

Congestion and pollution have created all kinds of road-management challenges

By AKSHAY SHARMA

Many streets of Kathmandu valley are being widened for the upcoming South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation summit scheduled for early next year. However, the enduring question of whether the valley is capable of handling traffic-related problems is far from being answered.

Traffic : No where to run

"I desperately needed a car," said Sunil Shrestha, a computer professional. He bought a Red Santro as a Dasain surprise for the family. But the roads he drives on are full of vehicles dating all the way back to World War II. The availability of cheaper car models through installment and loan programs has increased pressure on the streets.

Barely two months later, Shrestha is already complaining. "I am tired of finding and paying for safe places to park. Moreover, I'm sick of having to pay for parking in places where I'm not supposed to."

Chabi Lal Joshi, the superintendent of police at the Central Traffic Office, says the number of vehicles in Kathmandu Valley has grown exponentially. "There are more than 11,000 motorbikes and over 5,000 cars. The number of micro vans has crossed 1,500. Counting the tempos, which are to replaced by newer models, you can add another 1,500."

This is much more than the 800 km of narrow roads inside the valley are capable of carrying. "You'd be better off with five cigarettes a day," says a health expert. "Kathmandu's roads carry ten times the number of vehicles they are supposed to."

Some experts are trying to combat the pollution problem by using empirically based models like the Land Use and Land Cover Chang, a core project of the International Geosphere-Biosphere Program and the International Human Dimension Program. The project focuses on creating a simulation that can be used to predict land use and carbon baseline at the national level and to explore policy scenarios.

Benefits from projects like that are a long way off. Sub-Inspector Kusum Poudel, who directs traffic in front of Singha Dubar, looks at his uniform. "At the end of the day, it looks like it's covered with soot. He whistles at a passing car that has made a wrong turn. "You see that fellow, he thinks I'm a big baboon ó something inhumane." The dense traffic poses serious health hazards to traffic police officers, who are barely equipped with masks.

It's a different story in Ratna Park. Kamal Ghimire works at the parking area run by the municipality. "It's harder for us to collect money than it is for the traffic police. We have to argue and some people can be very nasty at times. The traffic police can lift motorbikes and lock cars. The owners have no other choice but to go to the Baggikhana (traffic police headquarters) to pay the fine and get back their vehicle."

Sometimes the pressure of work gets absurdly hilarious. Sub Inspector Dal Bahadur Rana Magar remembers something funny. "I suddenly woke up in themiddle of the night and saw [fellow sub inspector] Raj Kumar blowing very hard in his sleep. I was a little afraid and shook him up. When he got up, it turned out that he was dreaming he was frantically blowing his whistle to handle the chaotic traffic at Kalanki, where he is posted."

Although the government has succeeded in phasing out diesel-run tempos, the introduction of micro vans, gas-run and Safa tempos and older modes of transportation has created its own set of problems. A developing country like Nepal needs to come up with its own solutions, instead of emulating experiences of other countries. The country needs the right kind of political, social and economic arrangements that foster such innovations.

But what might these be?