Kathmandu, July 3

After over a year of internal preparation, Kathmandu Metropolitan City is all set to introduce paperless governance system from mid-July this year, with a view to making its services available at the public’s doorsteps.

Under the Municipal Administration and Revenue System project, KMC will switch to paperless governance for the first time in Nepal.

“In the beginning, day-to-day work such as relationship verification, vital registration and revenue submission in all wards of the metropolitan city will be handled online from mid-July,” KMC Information Officer Basanta Acharya told The Himalayan Times. “Gradually, we will provide all our services through online system so that the general public can avail of our services from their homes.”

KMC had begun trial of its electronic service about a year ago. Acharya informed that KMC initially conducted the preliminary test in seven wards and later expanded it to 32 wards. He also informed that KMC had been monitoring work of each of these wards through online system.

Besides, KMC is preparing to approve building blue prints electronically after the launch of the project. According to the metropolis, more than 200,000 house building blue-prints have been archived in its online system. Procuring house building blue-prints is a very lengthy documentation process and, as such, the new digital system will enable the general public to avail the service much faster by just surfing the internet.

According to KMC, it will cost around Rs 40 million for the metropolis to switch to e-governance system. The project is being funded by the Asian Development Bank and the Ministry of Federal Affairs and Local Development.

KMC had first approved the concept of e-governance nine years ago,  but its implementation was delayed due to lack of a strategic plan.