Towards Developing Indicators of Environmental Sustainability for Kathmandu, Nepal

What is sustainability?

The term “Sustainable Development” was first used by the World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED) in its report “Our Common Future” which was published in 1987. Its definition of sustainable development which “meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”1 is still the most often quoted definition of sustainable development. Since then numerous writers and organizations have created more encompassing and specialized definitions of sustainable development. These definitions attempt to encompass a more comprehensive spectrum of sectors to ensure sustainability of a system. One definition particularly related to urban development was developed by the URBAN 21 Conference held in Berlin in July 2000, which states:

"(Sustainable urban development) is improving the quality of life in a city, including ecological, cultural, political, institutional, social and economic components without leaving a burden on the future generations”.2

In most definitions the concept of sustainability includes three major dimensions: economic, social and environmental. Due to the urgency created by several global, regional and local environmental problems, such as, global warming, bio-diversity loss, air and water pollution and problems of waste management, the environmental aspect of sustainability is more often emphasized by planners.

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Particularly in urban locations, sustainability involves addressing the long term well-being of the people, conserving resources, making long term financial plans, empowering community and ensuring the integrity of the environment.

Figure 1 illustrates the various elements that need to be addressed to manage for sustainability of an urban environment3.

This paper seeks to address the sustainability issues particularly related to the urban development of Kathmandu, the capital city of Nepal. This paper is limited to devising an approach to develop sustainability indicators for Kathmandu, which can provide some reference to the policy makers, planners and urban development professionals working for the development and management of Kathmandu and similar other cities in developing countries. Given that the Valley’s environmental quality is deteriorating at an unprecedented rate, ensuring the sustainability of the environmental quality is of paramount importance. The emphasis of this paper is on environmental sustainability of the Kathmandu Valley.

Sustainability in Kathmandu

This paper deals with the sustainability issues for the entire Kathmandu valley, as it is a single ecological unit. The valley includes the three main cities, Kathmandu, Lalitpur

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and Bhakpatur. The valley covers an area of 900 square kilometers (347 square miles)4 total population of the valley is estimated to be 2.35 million (2000 population 1.645 million)5. The valley is going through an unprecedented rate of population growth. An indication of this accelerated growth can be seen by the rate of growth of Kathmandu district, which is estimated to 4.71 percent per year.6 The rate of population growth in Kathmandu is one of the highest in the world.

The valley of Kathmandu was historically a sustainable place from environmental and ecological point of view. It was agriculturally self sufficient and socially harmonious, bound in a social hierarchy that remained intact for a long period of time throughout history. The segregated social structure and its desirability are normative issues that beg a critical review by the standards of today’s democratic and pluralistic norms in Nepal. That sociological part however, is not the topic for this paper.

The environmental quality of the valley is on a speedy decline as can be seen from the high levels of air pollution, water pollution and land pollution in the urban areas. The accelerated levels of pollution have been widely studied by experts, international agencies and Nepal government agencies.7

Many management practices will impact the level of sustainability the valley will enjoy. For example, the current population growth is clearly unsustainable if appropriate infrastructure, housing, water supply and other urban amenities cannot keep up with the rate of growth. Furthermore, planners and policy makers have to ascertain

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whether adequate potential exists for supplying Kathmandu with water, building materials, waste management resources (such as, landfills), pollution control and other urban amenities to ensure an acceptable level of urban quality of life.

Additionally, the availability of energy and use of locally produced energy will also determine how vulnerable Kathmandu is for its energy needs. The increasing use of solar energy and photo-voltaic panels and bio-gas in the valley are helpful indicators of sustainable energy use. However, the use of individual electricity generators, even if they can be perceived as bestowing self-sufficiency to individual home owners and business, are bad indicators of sustainability in the long run. The generators consume petrol, need a regular supply of spare parts, and do not enjoy an economy of scale for energy production.

Traits of Effective Sustainability Indicators for Urban Environment

Sustainability indicators are the instruments for measuring the changes in the quality and state of sustainability of any system. The indicators comprise of information, data and parameters that measure the state of the environment and other sustainability factors. Without indicators, we cannot measure the status, trends and long terms changes in the factors that in aggregate demonstrate the suitability of a system.

The following are the main characteristics of the indicators that can explain and assess the sustainability of an urban area. If the indicators fit these qualities, they will help to

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examine, monitor and predict how sustainable the urban system is. Although these traits can apply to the study of sustainability of many systems, they are particularly valuable to predict the sustainability in Kathmandu.

Relevance to the Local Conditions

Any sustainability indicator must be relevant and well-suited to the local circumstances. Kathmandu has a unique history, is facing a rapid urban growth, and is burdened by overstrained infrastructure. Furthermore, the environmental quality of the valley is rapidly declining. In this situation, the indicators that can define Kathmandu’s sustainability have to reflect this difficult ground reality of Kathmandu.

Imbedded in Social Vision

Indicators become more useful if they help capture the community aspiration and vision of the locality. Kathmandu residents are struggling to modernize a largely traditional society and town in a hurry. Furthermore, people from all over Nepal aspire to come and live in Kathmandu hoping for better mobility, employment, education and other opportunities. Sustainability indicators for Kathmandu must be realistically based on the community vision of its residents, who wish to live in a clean environment, have adequate infrastructure and enjoy a high urban quality.

Easy to Measure and Compare

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Nepal lacks critical long term data in urban sector that may be considered basic in developed countries. Especially in the environmental arena, the existing data is of recent origin. Long term time series data have not been kept in Kathmandu. For example, environmental record keeping in a comprehensive manner began only in the mid eighties. Thus indicators have to appreciate this reality.

Helpful to Devise Policy

Kathmandu desperately needs realistic and forward looking planning that can achieve goals and objectives efficiently. If indicators are available for key areas, and if the people and media become excited about the state of the environmental and development as reflected by the indictors, the policy makers can benefit from this linkages. Indictors should arouse a wide interest, and help policy and decisions makers devise swift programs to achieve the stated goals of sustainability.

Supporting the Community to Become Pro-active

Kathmandu’s population is relatively young, and is highly motivated as many come from extreme hardship in the countryside. If attractive indictors are devised and publicized, it will motivate the community to become pro-active in their day to day behavior and their efforts to improve the quality of life in Kathmandu and also upgrade their own lives.

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Reliability of the Information

Indicators should provide a reliable basis for comparing the sustainability of various infrastructure, utility, energy and urban design elements for Kathmandu. A vague and undefined indicator does not provide a reliable basis to create a rapid improvement of urban quality in Kathmandu.

Based on Available Information and Data

As the quality of data and information on the environment, transportation, housing, water supply and energy use is largely inadequate in Kathmandu; the indictors should be parsimonious using the limited data and information that can be accessed in Kathmandu. As more high quality data becomes available, the indicators of sustainability can also be revised and refined.

Some Possible Indicators of Environmental Sustainability for Kathmandu

This paper recommends some indictors that will be valuable in assign the sustainability of the Kathmandu Valley. These indicators are derived and crafted on the basis of the qualities described above and can be valuable in examining the potential sustainability of Kathmandu Valley, particularly from an environmental and ecological standpoint and urban management.

The proposed Indicators are tabulated in Table 1.

Sustainability indicators provide concrete measure for the quality of environmental, water supply, transportation and other sectors to illustrate the status of the changes in their quality over time. Box 1 provides an example of indicators.

Comparative Indicators of Sustainability

Table 1 shows a subjective assessment of the quality of the some sustainability indicators for some Asian Cities. This comparative table is created based on personal experience, and literature review. This subjective assessment aggregates the indicators as shown in Table 2. Kathmandu’s sustainability indicators rate poorly compared to selected Asian cities.

Conclusion

Sustainability is critical for planning and management in Kathmandu. Many of the urban practices and the ground reality of the situation in Kathmandu indicate that the present business-as-usual scenario is unsustainable. Particularly, the quality of life and urban environment has suffered a drastic level of damage vastly reducing the quality of life in the valley. The valley’s environment is likely to deteriorate even more over time, if sustainable urban practices are not urgently implemented.

Sustainability indicators should be developed to reflect the uniqueness of the location. Kathmandu’s unique urbanism requires selecting and modifying indictors that suit the local conditions.

Planners and policy makers need to be able to compare the indicators of sustainability on a regular basis to ensure that Kathmandu residents will enjoy a high quality of life for a long time, and the urban system will not collapse because of poor practices in urban management. Appropriate sustainability indicators will be required for a regular analysis to assess the urban health of Kathmandu.

This paper attempts to specify the characteristics of indicators of sustainability for Kathmandu, and recommends some indictors that will help in achieving sustainability in Kathmandu.

Background

Nepal has recently begun to “modernize” and “urbanize”, and as such is now suffering from traffic jams, and air and noise pollution. Moreover, the rate of heart problems has reached an alarming state. Pedestrians’ rights have become a public issue of global concern. Considering these issues, RECPHEC has, through the Roads for People programme, attempted to promote the car free city concept and encourage the use of bicycles as a primary means of local transportation in Nepal.

Thamel is the main tourist center of Kathmandu. A large amount of tourism‐related investment has been poured in this area, evidenced by the numerous shops, hotels, restaurants, communication centers, and Nepalese arts and crafts‐promoting cottage industries. Thamel provides a significant amount of employment for city dwellers. Therefore, in order to maintain the attractiveness of Thamel, it is wise to think in advance about how to address the deteriorating condition of this economically vibrant site.

Vehicular movement in Thamel is one source of the deteriorating environmental condition and negative psychological impacts on visitors. Air pollution, unsafe and uncomfortable walking, and regular traffic jams are the negative factors defaming the charming face of this tourist core of Kathmandu. To address these issues, RECPHEC, in association with Thamel Tourism Development Board and Traffic Police, has initiated a number of activities.

Activity Summary

Workshop

RECPHEC and the Thamel Tourism Development Board jointly organized a one‐day workshop on ʺVehicle Regulated Zones in Thamel” on 4th August 2005 in Kathmandu. A total of 50 participants representing different hotels and restaurants, and including local people, media persons, entrepreneurs, environmentalists, clubs and government representatives participated in this consultation meeting. The workshop unanimously agreed to regulate the motorized vehicle in the Thamel area. (Detailed report on this has already been submitted)

Planning Meeting

The Thamel Tourism Board, Municipality, Traffic Police, and RECPHEC jointly organized a planning meeting for 2006. The main activities planned for the first six months of the project were as follows: 3

Conduct house hold opinion survey

Publish posters and pamphlets to raise peopleʹs awareness

Initiate vehicle regulated zone in association with the Traffic Police

Identify parking spaces

Hold a bicycle rally

Design other activities

Publications

A pamphlet about ʺOperating a Vehicle Regulated Zone Systemʺ was produced to raise awareness among the local residents, shopkeepers, and hotels workers in the Thamel Area. This pamphlet was disseminated throughout the Thamel Area. RECPHEC also published a poster on “Controlling the use of vehicles run on petroleum products” in Nepali.

Meeting with the Vehicle Regulated Zone Sub Committee

The Tourism Development Board of Thamel, organized a meeting on 13th June at Hotel Marsyandi. Representatives from 50 different agencies, including the District Administration Office, Traffic Police, Hotel Association of Thamel, local residential, Clubs, Taxi Association and other NGOs and journalists, participated in this meeting. Those attending the meeting decided not to give permission to private vehicles including motorcycle to park inside restricted areas.

The main highlights of the discussion were:

Immediate action for instituting a vehicle regulation zone

Management of parking places

Management of proper sign‐boards

Management of water falling from the roofs

Street repairs

At this meeting, Mr. Pandey briefed the participants about the ongoing activities of the vehicle regulation zone. Mr. Shyam Gyawali, Police Inspector, expressed his appreciation for these activities and gave his commitment to support the programme.

Mr. Shanta Lall Mulmi, Executive Director of RECPHEC, shared his views regarding the vehicle regulation zone and his willingness to work with the Thamel Tourism Development Board to make a success. He also expressed the possibility of expanding activities in different Nepali cities i.e. sub metropolitan cities Pokhara and Birgunj. 4

Mr. Gobinda Acharya, Assistant Secretary, Kathmandu Metropolitan, suggested that the Thamel Tourism Development Board work together with local people for the development of the Thamel area. He also expressed his willingness to provide support to Kathmandu Metropolitan for the promotion of Thamelʹs development.

The meeting was concluded with following actions to be undertaken within the week:

Parking prohibition on the streets

Strongly apply one way system

Empty taxis must exit or park in allocated place as soon as they drop off their passengers

Entry time must be allocated for local people

Meeting with the Taxi Association

Representatives from the Taxi Association, Thamel Tourism Development Board, and RECPHEC met on 2nd January 2006 at the Thamel Tourism Development Board office. They decided to regulate taxis entering the Thamel area from 3rd January. Regulatory monitoring will be handed over to the traffic police. The Taxi Association will take responsibility for taxi parking in Tridevi Marg. The Taxi Association will also manage a queue system at hotels.

RECPHEC and Tourism Development Board Meeting

Mr. Shanta Lall Mulmi Executive Director of RECPHEC met with Mr. Ganesh Bahadur Pandey, President and representatives of Tourism Development Board Thamel on 23rd January 2006 in RECPHECʹs office at Bagbazar, Kathmandu. They discussed the roles of RECPHEC and TTDB related to the conduct of a household survey to gather opinions of the people living in the Thamel area. They also discussed financial support, data collection, management and report writing responsibilities. The meeting concluded with the following decisions:

TTDB will take responsibility for questionnaire photocopies, supervision of enumerators, and data enumeration in Thamel.

Orientation of the enumerators will be done jointly by TTDB and RECPHEC in RECPHECʹs office

Financial support will be provided by RECPHEC

Information management and report writing task will be completed by REPHEC

Poster Campaign

A Poster Campaign was organized in the Thamel area between 6th and 15th 5

February 2006 to raise the awareness of the local people about the need for vehicle regulation. During the campaign, 475 posters were distributed and posted in different places around the Thamel Area, including on street walls, public places, houses, and other places

House Hold Survey

A cross‐sectional descriptive study involving qualitative and quantitative analysis was conducted in the Thamel area. The study included a situational analysis of people’s knowledge about the Thamel environment, collected through personal interviews and focus group discussion. The aim of the study was to analyse people’s perceptions of the vehicle‐regulated zone in Thamel and their perceptions of the causes of environmental degradation in the area.

Information was collected from a total of 300 personal interviews and one focus group discussion. However only 299 respondents were included in the data analysis as one respondent was not able to complete the questionnaire. Data collection was conducted between 6th and 25th February 2006.

Of the 299 validated interviewed respondents, 240 were male and 59 were female. Among them, most of the respondents were between 25‐ 59 years of age. Most of the respondents were Brahmin and Chhetri. More than 80% of the respondents belonged to Hindu religion and the majority (62%) spoke Nepali as their mother tongue. Nearly 97% of the total respondents were literate, which signifies that the majority of the people living in the Thamel Area are literate. Almost 80% respondents were engaged in business, including Cargo (34%), Curio shop (16.4%), Lodge (12.6%) and Restaurant (11.3%).

The majority (96%) of the respondents were aware about the environment of this area. More than 80% people were also aware of and concerned about different types of environmental pollution.

Almost 84% respondents agreed to the plan to regulate vehicles in Thamel. However, 16% respondent preferred to control vehicles instead of regulating them. The respondents acknowledged heavy traffic, street trades, unnecessary trouble to tourists, dirty streets, and an unsystematic tourist information system as the major causes of decreasing numbers of tourists. Likewise, 84.6% of the respondents believed that tourists tended to feel uncomfortable during their stay in Thamel due to the deteriorating environment. They also noted the inconveniences of not being able to walk freely in the streets, of not being familiar with the area, of being harassed by brokers, street children and peddlers, and of the dangers of being out late at night.

On question of the feasibility of a vehicle regulated zone, 20% of the respondents 6

believed that tourists would face problems with transportation, while 80% believed that the implementation of a vehicle regulated zone would not pose any problems to the tourists.

The majority of the respondents (90%) said that residents of Thamel would have more advantages than disadvantages through the regulation of vehicles, as it would result in promotion of their business through a better environment. Likewise, 94% respondents said that tourists tended to shorten their stay in this area due to the environment and hence believed that initiation of such action would help to lengthen their stay. The respondents identified trolleys, porters, cart service and rickshaw service as the best alternatives to motor vehicles.

While 40% of the respondents appreciated the concept of the program, one‐third offered their support in the initiation and implementation of the program.

Around 35% of the respondents engaged in business said that vehicle regulation would lead to convenience in walking. While 34.45% of the respondents said that it would result in easy adjustment to the area, 26% said that people would feel safer to stay out till late night and 68.26% said that people would have better accessibility to shopping centers. However, some respondents also pointed out potential problems with transportation, decline in business, and the number of tourists.

Among the respondents, nearly 50% have their own vehicle. Most of the respondents have motorbikes (50.7%). Only few respondents owned a car and other four‐wheelers. They all agreed to the regulation of vehicles and even suggested the promotion of smokeless vehicles.

Conclusion

Thamelʹs environment is deemed to be polluted from a number of factors. More than 96% of the people of Thamel are gravely concerned about these issues. Among the factors of environmental pollution identified, motor vehicles emerged as having the most harmful impact. People, both tourists and locals, are not able to freely walk in the street due to the increasing number of vehicles. Street children, brokers, massage centers; narrow streets and growing criminal activities also are setbacks in this area. Many tourists have shortened their stay and shifted to other residential places due to the pollution and growing anti‐social activities in this area. To intercept this gradual environmental deterioration, the respondents emphasized the need to either control or regulate vehicles in this area along with introducing appropriate action plans to prohibit the above‐mentioned detrimental factors. Most of the Thamel residents are willing to work together in these issues if someone is ready to initiate the action program. Hotel owners, most of the vehicle 7

owners, and businesspersons agreed to the regulation of vehicles in this locale.

Recommendations

Based on the result of the study, the following recommendations will be helpful for preparation of action plan and its implementation.

The drastic increase in the number of vehicles in the streets has posed a challenge to the transportation management authorities. So, vehicles should be regulated in an appropriate manner. Therefore, certain time periods should be allowed for entry and exit of vehicles in this area and a pass system can also be introduced to regulate the vehicles.

People have been facing difficulty while walking in the street because of the number of vehicles. Therefore, vehicle regulation is vital to create safer walking conditions.

Parking is another issue in this area. People with motor vehicles face this difficulty due to the narrow streets and excess number of vehicles. To overcome this problem, alternative‐parking areas should be identified.

The environment in Thamel is deteriorating day by day. Even the tourists have been found to shorten their stay in this area due to this reason. Motor vehicles have been identified as the major cause of environmental pollution in this area. So, it is necessary to regulate motor vehicles. Therefore everyone should pressure the concerned authorities to introduce and implement effective actions for vehicle regulation.

Tourism Development Board Regular Meeting

The Tourism Development Board organized a meeting on 13th June 2006 in Hotel Marsyandi. 50 representatives from different agencies i.e. District Administration Office, Traffic Police Head Office, Traffic Office Durbamarg, Tourist Police Thamel, Police Post Sorakhutte, Hotel Association of Thamel, Thamel residential people, Clubs, Taxi association and other NGOs and journalist participated in this meeting. The main agenda of meeting was to describe the meaning of vehicle regulation. The participants at the meeting agreed that:

Private vehicles, including motorcycles, would not be permitted to stop and park inside the restricted areas.

The district administrative office and traffic police would provide security personnel to patrol the areas.

The Taxi Association would inform the taxi drivers that they could not stop empty taxis inside Thamel areas.

Bicycle Rally

RECPHEC and Thamel Tourism Development Board jointly organised a bicycle rally on July 29th, 2006. The rally was inaugurated by a senior social worker, 86 years old (Mr. Rudra Lall Mulmi). Mr. Namgyal Lama, President of TTDB welcomed the participants and Mr. Shanta Lall Mulmi, Executive Director, RECPHEC introduced the rally.

More than 250 people, both national and international, participated in this rally. The participants represented different sectors i.e. local people, municipality, traffic police, tourist police, business holder, clubs, civil society, health workers, media and students. The rally started at 7:30 am from Tridevi Marg, Thamel and was completed at 8:15. RECPHEC provided t‐shirt, caps, certificates to the participants. Thousands of people were made aware about value of bicycle riding as well as deteriorating environment condition of the cities.

Electronic media (Kantipur television, Nepal 1, Image channel and Kantipur FM) covered the news about the rally.

House Hold Survey Report Dissemination

The research ‐ survey is one of the vital keys to measure of the socio‐ economic status of societies as well as other sectors. The survey reports provide guidelines to build up the effective policy programs. Therefore, research/ surveys should be conducted before formulation and implementation of the policy program in every discipline.

The survey report was disseminated on 13th August 2006 by the Nepal Tourism Development Board. More than 70 participants representing different agencies, including the Traffic Police, Tourism Police, Traffic Office Durbar Marg, Police Office Sorakhutte, Local Clubs, Kathmandu Metropolitan, Civil Society, Political Activist, Local People, Media, Nepal Tourism Development Board, Ministry Of Tourism And Environment, Taxi Association, Rickshaw Association, Hotel Association, Cargo Association, Nepal Comers And Trade Union, Nepal Industries Federation, Health Professional, Environment Specialist, Thamel Tourism Development Board And Business Holder participated in this program.

The forum decided to formulate the Action Committee and formed the Task Force Committee. The following organizations are members of the Task Force Committee:

Thamel Tourism Development Board (TTDB)

Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC) 9

Traffic Police Office Head Quarter

Traffic Police Post Darwarmarg

Ward Police Durbarmarg

Tourist Police Office

Ward Police Office Lainchour,

Local Clubs (Chibahal Pariwar Club and Jyatha Sub Committee)

Taxi Association

RECPHEC

NTB

Civil Society

The newly formed committee started its program the following day. From 14th to 16th August 2006, the committee sent notices and information about the vehicle regulation program in Thamel area to the all business owners, advising them to not park their vehicles on the road and to remove all boards and banners from the footpaths.

Altogether, 40 motorbikes are removed by Traffic police on 17th August 2006, as they were parked in the Thamel areas. The motorcycle owners paid Rs.1000 to the traffic office to release their motorcycle. The banners, posters and the hoarding boards also were removed out by the Kathmandu Metropolitan. These actions are now ongoing.

Outcomes

Taxis enter Thamel by queue system

Empty taxis cannot enter or stop inside Thamel (Taxi association takes action against the taxis that park inside Thamel)

Motorcycles do not park in front of business centers

Motorcycles are not permitted to drive with heavy sound‐ able silencer pipe

One‐way road system thoroughly maintained

Banner and hoarding board removed from walls

Traffic police, Tourist police and city police continuously on duty to regulate the vehicles.

Actions still in progress

Planning for the parking areas

Developing pass systems for vehicle owners

Information center is going to be established for tourists

Anti‐social activities that are taking place in Thamel area will be stopped 10

Task Force Committee Review Meetings

The Task Force Committee review meeting was conducted on 24th August 2006 in Hotel Tashi Darke. There were 18 participants from the 12 organizations. The committee discussed a number of issues, with the following decisions being made:

The information center will established by mid September

Action will be not taken on all issue areas (Massage center, street children, footpath shops) at the same time

The main focus of task force committee will be on vehicle regulation

Another meeting was held in Nursing Chowk on 30th August 2006 in Thamel. More than 40 people participated, including the Task Force Committee, local people, clubs and other concerning organizations. The meeting was held due to a request from Kathmandu Metropolitan and Traffic Police Office.

A follow up meeting was held 31st August 2006 in Thamel Tourism Development Board. There were 9 people from the Task Force Committee. The main objective of this meeting was to prepare the appeal for the peopleʹs participation in the vehicle regulation and to stop anti‐social activities in the Thamel area. The committee prepared the Appeal immediately and it was distributed to the local people.

Media Advocacy

RECPHEC has been able to mobilize the media for an advocacy campaign. The print media and electronic media including Television channel and F.M. stations played a very active role, including a press interview of Dhawalagiri FM with Shanta Lall Mulmi on 18th August and Kalika FM on 1st September. Nepal Television telecasted a 30 minute special programme on RECPHEC focusing on Tobacco and Carfree cities on 9th September at 7:30 PM.

Outcomes from June 2005 ‐ June 2006

Taxi parking is not permitted inside Thamel area

Empty taxis are prohibited to enter inside Thamel

Prohibition of heavy load vehicle (trucks, mini‐buses) except at allocated times

Taxis can enter inside Thamel queue systems only

Pamphlet and posters published and disseminated

Around 90 percent Thamel residential people were advantaged from the poster campaign

Household Survey conducted 11

House Hold survey is completed and 84% respondents agreed to the plan to regulate vehicles in Thamel

More organization/Go agencies join hands in this momentum.

‐ Thamel Tourism Board, Thamel

‐ Kathmandu Municipality, Kathmandu

‐ Tourism Police, Bhrikutimandap

‐ Ward Police Office Post, Shorakhuttae

‐ Ward Police Office, Durbar Marg

‐ Traffic Police Post Post, New bus Park

‐ Community Service Society, Lainchor

‐ Chibal Pariwar Club, Thamel

‐ Maitri Pariwar Club, Thamel

‐ New Thamel Peace Club, Thamel

Constraints and Limitations

Nepal has just stepped into the so‐called modern development era. The liberal economy of the democratic government has promoted new economic policy which has encouraged people to purchase motorized personal vehicles.

Nepal suffered a lot in economic front for the last 10 years due to its conflict situation. The tourist in‐flow has drastically reduced, lots of local industry closed, garment experts have moved to the US and European countries, and the carpet industry business has become monopolized by some Indian business communities. Hence when RECPHEC first introduced the concept of Carfree Cities, there were very little acceptance of the idea. Even the Nepal Hotel Association and Travel Agencies protested. It took long time to convince them.

The change in the political system has affected the commitment of Municipality staff and Police personnel. Nepal has experienced Kingʹs direct rule, absence of people’s representatives in Municipality, non‐cooperation by the government machinery to NGO like us who are fighting for democratic movement and culture. In addition, the Maoist movement disturbed the whole process of development. This situation has affected RECPHEC’s programme of public advocacy on ʺCar Free Citiesʺ.

In reflection to RECPHEC knowledge, the Car free cities concept is itself a new concept. It is a learning process for us.

Lack of secure longer term funding has not made it possible to develop a longer term strategic plan as yet.

Parking of Kathmandu

There are lots of parking areas we can see in the kathmandu valley, i will post other pictures also, it will show how chaotic the parking system of kathmandu is?

Existing Parking System of Kathmandu Metropolitan City

As Kathmandu Metropolitan City has allocated 36 numbers of parking, there we can see the people who were responsible to manage the parking mechanism of their particular area. The parking lot mostly we could see in the side of the road. The parking area were developed from the trend of the people usually parked over there while they moved for shopping or else. During those times there were nobody to take care of those vehicles, and no revenue from parking was collected by the KMC office. But after allocating the parking lots, now KMC is collecting the revenue from the parking.

Mahaboudha-Bhosiko –Piukha-Guccha Tole:

The study area covers almost wholesale market, in core city of the Kathmandu Metropolitan city. In this area almost all the houses ground floor and first are used for the commercial purpose (shop) and from the second floor upwards, go-downs, stores, and other residential purpose. During my survey I could not observe any parking spaces within the houses. In this study area most of the courtyards seen are used either with commercial purpose or for parking spaces.

Within this area the user’s information survey was done. In this survey two types of questionnaire were prepared. One was for shop owners and another was for driver. In this study, we tried to collect the information about the existing problems, their parking behavior, and the safety on existing parking, management of existing parking.

Khichapokhari Area:

Khichapokhari area is highly commercialized area where three Big business complexes, Pasupati Plaza, Peoples complex and RB complex located. Along with these big business complexes, other retail shops, banks, café and communications Centers are located. In this area, all the houses in the road side fully used for the commercial and official purposes. The On street parking seen in this area. Some street vendors can be seen in this area.

This study area was divided into Parking Lot A, Lot B, and Lot C as shown in the map. The overall length of the study area is 213 m. two types of study carried out. They are accumulation count study and Daily average income from each parking lot.

This survey was done to take the accumulation count as well as economic behavior from the parking lots in the CBD. Here the length of particular park was taken and total no of vehicle accumulated in every two hours was noted. The numbers of vehicle arriving and departing was counted.

CHEAT ON PARKING.. THE CONTINUOS PROCESS

As per the contract agreement the rate for two wheeler is Rs. 5 per hour and for four wheeler is Rs. 10 but in the lack of proper monitoring from the Kathmandu Metropolitan office, the contractor are taking more parking fee from the vehicle owner. There is complaint from the public that the concern sector is not taking care of the people though day by day public are cheated. The district officer of Kathmandu, Mr. Laxmi Pd. Dhakal told if any complaint with the authentic proof is there the office could take action on those activities. One of the metropolitan worker told the low amount of revenue is not the concern for the officers, the amount for them is concern. So the enforcement could not be applicable. SOURCE : MAKAR SHRESTHA, KANTIPUR, JAN 5, 2011) See Annex:4

Parking will be removed creating the congestion…

On one of the interview with DIG Mr. Bigyan Raj Sharma, Metropolitan Traffic Police Division, told that the parking activities seen in the road affecting the movement of vehicle creating congestion will be identified and will be removed from that area. Though the parking areas are allotted by KMC, if those are not suitable, they will be removed with the enforcement. Source: Makar Shrestha/kantipur, Jan 3, 2011, page 4 See Annex:3

Unauthorized footpath parking Fined:

Unauthorized footpath parking vehicles were fined. The no of unauthorized footpath parking fined are Four hundred Sixty four. It was recorded on December 31, 2010 Source: Kantipur, Jan 1, 2011, page 4 The no of unauthorized footpath parking fined are five hundred and ninety one. The DSP Basanta Kumar Panta said. It was recorded on Jan 2, 2011. Source : Kantipur, Jan3, 2011, page 4 See annex: