Kathmandu, February 7:

The Kathmandu Valley Town Development Committee (KVTDC) has begun the process of upgrading the land use map of the valley in order to control the haphazard urbanisation of the valley.

“We have already called for tender to proceed with the work. It will take some 15 days to complete the tender process, after which we will begin the work by hiring consultants,”

said Indra Bahadur Shrestha, member secretary of the KVTDC.

For the initial phase of the project, the KVTDC and all five municipalities in the valley have decided to raise Rs 2.5 million. The Kathmandu Valley Town Development Committee has allocated Rs 8 lakhs for the initial stage.

Similarly, the Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC) will have to furnish Rs 7 lakhs, the Lalitpur Sub-Metropolitan City Rs 4 lakhs, Bhaktapur Municipality Rs 3.5 lakhs, Thimi Municipality Rs 1.5 lakhs and the Kirtipur municipality Rs 1 lakh.

The decision to update the land use map of the core areas of the city was taken after multiple meetings between the chief executive officers of all five municipalities of the valley and the KVTDC.

The decision to cover only the core areas was taken as the budget would fall short to cover all areas of the valley.

The meets also came up the figure of Rs 10 million to cover the whole valley.

The existing land use map was prepared some 20 years ago.

“We signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Rural Urban Planners’ Society of Nepal (RUPSON) on December 12, 2005, to update the land use map,” KVTDC’S Shrestha said.

Devendra Dongol, head of the Urban Development Department at the KMC, said preparations for updating the present land use map were underway.

The new map aims to reflect the changes in land use that have taken place since 1976, the year Kathmandu Valley Land Use Plan was legally adopted and enforced.

The recent review will help incorporate land use changes and land use categories in the updated map, in accordance of the land use 2020 plan.

The new land use plan in its digitized format can be used effectively to regulate and control the land use in the valley by strict enforcement of laws. The final decision to update the land use map was taken at a workshop on Novemer 8, 2005, on the occasion of the World Planning Day.