Kathmandu, February 10:

Five separate long-term strategies and short-term action plans are being drafted to facilitate solid waste management in five municipalities of five development regions.

An agreement was reached today between the Solid Waste Management and Resources Mobilisation Centre (SWMRMC) of the Ministry of Local Development and the UN-Habitat to institute a fund for this purpose.

The UN-Habitat has provided Rs 6 million.

Funds collected will also be utilised for the preparation of status reports and databases of all 58 municipalities to help the government plan solid waste management activities.

The UN-Habitat will support the SWMRMC and municipalities through capacity building in Clean Development Mechanism and climate change issues and demonstrate how

such projects can be linked with recently establish financing mechanisms

for the Clean Development Mechanism.

Since July, the UN Habitat has been helping the SWMRMC develop a proposed Solid Waste Management Act and a National Solid Waste Management Guideline.

This will help the government and local authorities implement the act and the guideline in five municipalities in Nepal.

This demonstration in turn will help scale up the implementation of the act and the guideline in all 58 municipalities.

The project will also build capacity of the SWMRMC and the municipalities to develop potential Clean Development Mechanisms (CDM) projects associated with municipal landfill sites, thereby contributing towards the mitigation of climate change.

“We will concentrate on capacity building of municipal staff of five selected municipalities on solid waste issues so that they can execute solid waste management programmes more effectively and achieve progress towards the development of CDM projects,” said Ashok Shahi, deputy manager at the SWMRMC.

He said the SWMRC will prepare Municipal Level long-term strategic plans for the five selected municipalities and short-term action plans and implementation through a pilot project will follow.

Shahi added that development of coordination and cooperation mechanisms with all the stakeholders and other non-government organisations at municipal and national levels will also be enhanced.

Rajesh Manandhar, water and sanitation coordinator at the UN Habitat Water for Asian Cities Programme, said the project is going to provide a new perspective for the traditional way of managing solid waste.

“We will provide a platform for each of the municipalities to draft their own strategies and action plans. There will not be any interference from our side because each municipality has its own problems and only the local resource person can find the best solution,” he added.