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COVER STORY |
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COVER STORY |
URBANIZATION With the growing pressure
of population and construction of new buildings, Kathmandu valley has already turned into
a concrete jungle. At the first phase of urbanization in 1980s, the fertile lands along
the major river belts were destroyed to make way for private buildings. Now this process
threatens to eat up all the remaining open space, far and wide, of the valley. Although
the government has introduced new planning to systematize the urban settlement under a
land management system, it is too little too late compared with the extent of population
growth rate in the valley. The past experiences have shown that is not lack of planning
but the commitment for execution that hampered the scientific urbanization. How the newly
proposed 20-year Kathmandu Valley Long Term Urban Development Concept Plan will fare,
remains to be witnessed By KESHAB POUDEL In the first phase, the government asked
individual house-owners to leave four feet of land on all sides of their house. In the
next phase, the authorities handed over a sentence restricting the height of the house to
only three storeys. Then came the diktat to construct the pagoda style rooftop ñ
ostensibly to promote Nepalese architecture. Lifting of the restrictions on height and
ceiling of area occupied by house followed this. Since the government has changed its rules
and regulations so frequently, the urbanization has to pass through uncertain phases
turning the valley into one congested and unplanned city. The tendency of citizens to defy
the rule and regulations has made the situation worse.
Unorganized, congested and unplanned,
the present state of Kathmandu urbanization is not due to a day's or a month's negligence
but the cumulative consequence of the decades of misguided actions. Its responsibility,
too, is not limited to one section but to the overall attitude of shifting policies in
decision making leading to inaction coupled with general insensitivity of the citizens
regarding their safety. In the last three decades, the core urban area stretched from
within ring-road to encompass other peripheral towns that have turned into high density
residential areas. Concentrated and confined to the core area
for long, the urbanization of Kathmandu valley, of late, has gradually extended beyond the
ring road reaching the century old satellite towns in the outskirts. It takes years of
effort and huge investment to push an individual to go beyond confined and overcrowded
city. Unfortunately, the urbanization in the new areas is also following the similar
footprint and is repeating the past mistakes. However, thanks to Kathmandu Town
Development Committee and some other private housing companies, dozens of well planned
settlements have already emerged while many others are in the process of completion. But
these housing plots are so expensive that they are not affordable to the middle class and
lower middle class families. With the expansion and extension of the
urbanization process, the pressure on the core city area has relatively reduced but it
will not make any differences in the growth of the unplanned city. Though there is some planned housing
complexes erupting, they may not be the solution for valley's unplanned long-term growth.
Unskilled and inexperienced, some private sector housing complexes seem to be creating
another problems for the future.
"I don't think Kathmandu's
urbanization will improve as long as land brokers hold the key of development and
planning. There are many serious work to complete in the areas of urbanization but our
policy makers are busy in fencing Tundikhel," said Padma Sunder Joshi, urban planner
and executive director of Center for Integrated Urban Development. "The government is
not serious to carry out a long term program but they seem to enjoy in patch up
planning." According to the Company Registrar's
office, there are 12 housing companies that have received permission. Subsequently, the
Kathmandu Town Development Committee, a sole body to formulate, design and execute the
housing complexes in the valley, has issued notice asking housing companies to register at
their office as well. Four such housing companies have already registered at the
committee. Emerging Towns Many individuals have started packing their
luggage to stay at semi-urban areas in the fringes of the valley like Godavari, Lubhu,
Tikathali, Changathali, Thimi, Bode, Nepaltar, Kirtipur, Thankot, Harisiddhi, Bansbari,
Bhainsepati and so on. But they, too, are booming in unplanned and haphazard manner. Prepared in 2001 by the Kathmandu Valley
Town Development Committee, Kathmandu Valley Long Term Development Concept Plan has
proposed some measures to discourage haphazard growth but it is yet to be implemented. As all other town development planning, it
is also heading toward similar course like its predecessors.†Formulating planning is
not adequate to control the haphazard and unplanned growth of the city but what is
required is strong will and determination for its implementation. "As long as there is no political will
and determination, I don't think any planning will work. When I headed Kathmandu Town
Planning Board and tried to implement the building code, I had to face stiff pressure from
all sides," said a former member secretary of Kathmandu Town Planning Committee on
condition of anonymity. "Those who opposed my strict actions took revenge dismissing
me following the restoration of democracy."
"How can you manage the
unplanned growth when high class politicians, bureaucrats and brokers have built a strong
nexus? Thousand of acres of river banks have already been transferred to the personal
property," he quipped. Much damage has already been done but there
is still possibility to improve the situation. If the valley's housing is developed as
proposed by the long term conceptual plan, Kathmandu can still be a well-organized and
well planned city.†In the last few years, valley's five municipalities have also
shown some commitments to follow the guidelines. "Our problem is not construction but
we fail to develop land use planning. We have not divided the lands on the basis of their
utilization purposes," said Joshi. "We don't know what is the purpose of urban
land? We only know the lands are used in agriculture." Growth of City The population in the valley is swelling at
the rate of†4 percent per annum. There will be more†population pressure after
the completion of Bardibas-Sindhuli Highway, which links the eastern parts of the country
with the capital valley. Only the implementation on war-footing of the plans and programs
can save the valley. In the last one decade, the green cover areas gradually vanished. In
the core city area, almost all of the lands that once were paddy fields supplying
foodstuffs required by valley residents have transformed into a concrete jungle. Squatters
occupy even the river banks. If the population projection by 2001 census
is taken as a basis, 1.5 to 2 million populations will be added to the total population of
the valley in the next 10 years. This will mean that the valley will need to have more
than 5,000 hectors of new land to fulfill the demand then. According to the urbanization
planning of Kathmandu,†the new settlement developed by the government and private
sector is too small and these settlements are nothing more than tiny patches in unplanned
and haphazard expansion of towns. In almost all old core areas, the city is becoming
unhygienic for healthy human settlement.
"You cannot judge pressure of
population on the ground of average growth rate. For instance, the population growth rate
in outskirts areas like Kapan and Jorparti is 12 and 13 percent respectively compared to
4.4 percent in general," said Joshi. "Virtually all Nepalese towns of
recent origin have evolved in unplanned manner, in modern sense of the term. Although the
medieval towns of the Kathmandu valley and surroundings followed strict religious
prescriptions of unwritten rules, very few Nepalese towns ever completely benefited from
the modern rationale planning process," writes Ambika Prasad Adhikary, former
executive director of IUCN in his book Urban and Environment Planning in Nepal.
"Urban planning has not been practiced in a comprehensive manner in Nepal Primarily,
Nepal's urban centers suffers from lack of proper land use planning. Road layouts are
insufficient, open spaces are almost nonexistent, housing and services are not well
located and infrastructure is poorly planned and deficiently maintained." Despite the government's involvement in the
process of town planning for the last thirty years, the valley's haphazard urbanization is
yet to stop. The houses are erected randomly and on ad-hoc basis despite a constant threat
of†major earth quake hitting the city. As most of the lands are sold on individual
basis, the houses are built as per the wish and liking of individual. Housing now is
considered the individual's problem and it is mostly a duty of individual to build house
and develop infrastructures. Only the government, industries, educational institutions and
some private sector housing companies institutionally sponsor a fraction of housing in
Kathmandu but majority of the houses in Kathmandu are built by the owners themselves who
finance and manage the entire operation.
"The collective welfare is often
sacrificed in the absence of adequate regulations and lack of implementations, whenever
some exist. Private housing in Kathmandu epitomizes these problems. Whereas individual
houses are carefully organized and maintained, the public spaces are totally ignored.
Whenever any public or open spaces are available plots are subdivided unscientifically at
the convenience of the owners and all of them are built up. The overall organization of
the new housing precincts is at best chaotic and at worst unlivable," said Adhikary. Experts hold the view that the urbanization
of Kathmandu valley is different than those in other parts of the world. Unlike other
parts of the world, the government has invested very little amount of money to develop
well-planned urban centers. "In other parts of the world, the
governments acquire its own land and distribute them to the people developing all kinds of
basic infrastructures. In the valley, the government does not own its own land and most of
the lands are private property. So people sell their land developing on their own,"
said Surya Bhakta Sangachhe, acting member secretary of Kathmandu Town Development
Committee. "As the government does not own land, so we are acquiring lands in certain
areas and handing it over to the land owners after construction of basic infrastructures
like road, sanitation, playing grounds and other basic facilities." New Proposed Plan Sites If the long term Kathmandu Valley
Development Concept Plan is implemented as per its spirit, Kathmandu's unplanned growth
will improve and the city will turn into systematic and well-planned center. Keeping in
mind the past experiences when many such proposed strategies were thrown to the dustbin,
there is little hope for its implementation.
Kathmandu Town Development Committee
is now developing modern housing areas encouraging people's participation. Under its
initiative, the government has already completed13 Housing Development projects
distributing more than 10,000 plots. The board is planning to develop such projects in
another 13 areas of Kathmandu, Lalitpur and Bhaktapur districts. Following the inception of first housing
project at Kuleshwor, which is the first of planned and well managed housing schemes, the
government has already completed housing schemes of land-pooling in Gulfutar, Gongabu,
Dallu, Kamal Binayak I, Lively, Lubhu, Bagmatiphat (Jwagal Areas). Likewise, similar
schemes in Nayabazar, Chabahil Gopi Krishna Areas, Sinamangal and Sainbu Bhainsepati are
in the last stage and Siuchatar is in the construction phase. The government has already preserved the
land at Nayapati, Tusal, and Kapan Tar. The pre-possibility study has been completed in
Gothatar, Kamal Binayak II and Nepaltar. The preliminary studies have completed in
Harisiddhi, Chamati, Dhubarahi South, Chikhu Hanuman Dhoka and Kirtpur housing areas. The new long-term strategy also proposes
some measures to develop new housing sites so that many more population will be
accommodated in organized and well-planned housing areas. It also identifies new
development corridors in the valley ranging from Chapagaun, Thank to, Sanga Tokha,
Godavari Katunje and many other small towns in the valley outskirts. At a time when urban
population is growing astronomically, the strategy has identified some new areas. History of Planned Development The five main cities of the valley like 16
small satellite towns surround Kathmandu, Lalitpur, Bhaktapur, Thimi and Kirtipur, few
kilometers away from them. Most of the old cities were developed during Malla period
following scientific pattern. But the urbanization took place haphazardly
for many years after that. However, due to absence of population pressure, there was very
nominal strain on Kathmandu valley till 1950. With the overthrow of Rana regime and
political change, the development planning focused Kathmandu as a core area. This
resulted†in the centralization of infrastructures in the valley. From University to
small industry and international airport, Kathmandu valley was chosen as the sole venue.
The small-scale as well as large-scale industries started to open their shop here. As the infrastructures were centralized, so
the population pressure went up and demand for more land for housing. Caught napping, the
government promulgated its first planning act in 1973. Following the opening of many
highways linking valley with the rest of the country, the population pressure continued to
rocket. Much water has flown in Bagmati river since
the first planning, which was followed by sundry other planning and regulations. Building
and construction regulations were enacted for Kathmandu valley in 1976, primarily as
conservation efforts. In the last three decades, the successive
governments have introduced a number of town development programs but almost all such
programs were aborted in the initial phase. With the support from United Nations, an
intensive study was conducted back in 1973 drawing a planning strategy for the future. The
plan also proposed possible sites for the expansion of city and areas for agriculture
purposes. It proposed the high-land for housing and low land for greenery. The first land
mapping project was implemented in 1976, which set certain standard for the building
construction. Population Growth The valley population has doubled in the
last twelve years. According to the National Census report 1991, there were 675,341 people
in Kathmandu district but the last census taken in the 2001 revealed that the population
has crossed 10,81845. The population hovers around 1.5 million if the floating population
is also included. Kathmandu valley lies in earth-quake prone
zone but no one ever gives notice during the process of urbanization. With uncontrolled
housing and commercial development, many new urban centers do not even have access to big
vehicles and water is in short supply. Buildings are randomly crammed in narrow alleys
where critical services like ambulances and fire brigade cannot reach. In the last three decades, the urban
population grew by many folds. In the last decade between 1991-2001, the growth of urban
population in Kathmandu was 4.67 percent, 1.67 in Bhaktapur, 3.41 in Lalitpur, 4.01 in
Madhaypur Thimi and 2.65 in Kirtipur. Experts have already predicted that the
city will be devastated in case earthquake of over 7 Richter scale in intensity hits the
valley - incurring heavy human casualties and destruction of property. Thanks to the
haphazard and unplanned growth, the core city areas have already turned into a death trap
in case of major tremor. Despite the persistent threat of
earthquake, haphazard erections of the buildings in and around the core city area
continue. Although the municipalities are there to monitor, supervise and formulate the
building code, unauthorized building construction is yet to be stopped. Kathmandu Metropolitan authority holds the
views that more than 1000 buildings were constructed violating the building
authorizations. Even in the major thoroughfares like in Babarmahal and Tinkune sectors,
the multi-storied buildings were erected violating the highway regulations. At a time when
the value of land is so high, no one dares to leave any land vacated for parking or other
open space. Instead, most of the buildings encroach the public lands. Inadequate Infrastructures From Tripureshwor to Kalanki and Lainchaur
to Balaju, Chabahil-Jorpati or Lainchaur to Maharajgunj lanes, there is virtually no space
to extend the narrow road since buildings line either side of the road. Land is one of the most precious
commodities in the municipal areas of Kathmandu valley. After the restoration of
multi-party democracy and introduction of economic reforms in 1991,Kathmandu†turned
into Nepal's main financial center so the populations from different parts of the country
have poured into valley. Real estate prices continue to shot up
while the state of city's infrastructures and environment has worsened. Kathmandu - which
is the largest among the five municipalities in the town - is Nepal's most populous city
with some one million residents. Likewise, more than 200,000 vehicles are running in the
valley's narrow streets and roads pumping pollutants into the air. Because of lack of
treatment plants, the households directly throw their sewage wastes into the river. At a time when the haphazard building
construction has destroyed the old core areas, the government is coming up with a new
model to extend the urban limits. Compared to disorganized settlements outside, the
housing complexes offer drinking water facilities, playing grounds for children parking
space and sanitation. Worse, the core city is growing up in such
a manner that there is only a little room for its improvement. From road to drinking
water, sanitation to electricity distribution line, all have to pass through congested
parts of the city. Along with the construction boom on private
property, the slum areas are also bursting at the seams in the public lands. The rivers
banks of three major rivers have already been encroached. With no sign in sight of the
reduction in the number of slum dwellers, currently about 50,000 or 10 percent of city's
population, the situation is going from bad to worse. In 2000, Keshab Staphit, mayor of
Kathamandu Metropolitan, evacuated some families who squatted on river banks. They were
relocated in other less congested parts of the city. "Participation of local
population in urbanization is important part and it is impossible to implement without
their support. But, people are hardly aware about it," said an urban planner. Economic Value The government seems to be unprepared to
meet the challenges that haphazard urbanization will invite. Although environmentally the
valley is gradually turning into inhospitable place, it remains as a major factor for
national economy and social well-being. For the improvement of environment, the government
can still use the river corridor converting them into green areas. Thanks to the growing construction industry
in the valley, national economy was rescued from falling into negative growth a year ago.
This year's budget also received support from urban economic activities, which pushed the
GDP by 2.5 percent. Many people think that the urbanization is not a problem in itself but
the inability of cities to afford the necessary infrastructures to keep pace with the rate
of population change and increase in consumption as incomes rise. The planned development of emerging towns
and market centers were given special attention in the tenth plan. The government
initiated preparation of physical development plans of such settlements and allocated
funds for the development of critical urban infrastructure in designated settlements. The Town Development Committees, who are
empowered to implant the physical development, plans, could not play active role in the
whole process and make the valley more useful for the human settlements. For long, the government did not make any
investment in the urbanization but the time has come for it to make some contribution. The tenth plan focuses on two issues or
urbanization - affordable shelter and sustainable human settlements. With the focus to
encourage the public private partnership in the housing and urban development, the
government has now forwarded some important proposals. Despite the three decade long history of
planned urbanization, haphazard settlement still remain a major character of the
urbanization of the Kathmandu valley. |
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