Kathmandu, January 8

The government is drafting a long-term urban development plan for the newly-formed 185 municipalities across the country. The Ministry of Urban Development (MoUD) has started the initial works to prepare the 20-year plan to enhance the situation of municipalities.

The MoUD has divided the total work into two phases - in the first phase, it will prepare the plan of 90 municipalities and in the second phase, development plan for the remaining 95 municipalities will be prepared.

“The newly-formed municipalities lack the basic infrastructure facilities. The government will prepare the plan for 20 years, based on which detailed works would have to be completed within the given period,” Suman Salike, information officer at the MoUD, informed. “Unified model for urban development will be incorporated in the plan.”

Along with the plan, the MoUD will prepare detailed project report (DPR) of two feasible projects that could be immediately implemented in select municipality. “Such projects may vary from one municipality to another,” Salike stated. “The major aim of preparing the DPR of such projects is that if any local unit is ready to implement the project, the central government could facilitate them.”

The plan will include some details like central government's investment over 20 years, necessary infrastructure for those units, the possible size of the population and status of the government service in the municipalities.

“Most of the newly-formed municipalities are lagging in terms of basic infrastructure and the local bodies are not able to construct the infrastructure. So, the ministry has taken the initiative to enhance them,” Salike said. He also informed that the central and the local governments will jointly work for the infrastructure development of the municipalities.