Nepal Infrastructure 
KATHMANDU: On the second day of the Nepal Infrastructure Conference 2022, discussions were held with urban experts and mayors on ‘Urban Infrastructure for Livable Cities. The discussion session was organized at the 4th Nepal Infrastructure Summit on Friday. The Executive Director of Town Development Fund, Krishna Prasad Sapkota said that the topic of making livable cities starts with livable houses. “At present, we have not been able to go to the system of making our house better. Hence, making the city livable is difficult,” he said. Sapkota said that the mayors also lack a plan of how to make their city in five years. He believes that even if other indicators can be improved without improving the transport system, many issues will not be managed.
A new city cannot be built from the current structure and for that, an organization focused on project development should be created. Mayor of Pokhara Metropolitan City, Dhanraj Acharya said that along with the increase in population, there is also a problem with the lack of investment in infrastructure. “The structure of 25 years ago does not meet the current needs,” Acharya said.
To solve this problem, either the state should build infrastructure, or else they should be able to stop migration. Timely policy changes and security assurance are equally important to make the city livable.
On the other hand, he said that the local government should move forward by connecting with the community and working together with the neighboring municipalities to make the city livable. Rajeshman Singh, mayor of Birgunj Metropolitan Corporation said that investing in the city alone is not enough. “After making the investment, it is essential to monitor what is going on,” he said.
Mayor Singh also said that since urban development is a multi-stakeholder task, it will not work effectively unless coordination among relevant agencies. Nagesh Koirala, Mayor of Biratnagar Metropolitan City, noted his metropolitan city is lacking the resources and technical manpower to improve the infrastructure of the city.
It has been planned that the metropolis will build a ring road, but it has not yet been started, which was supposed to be started long ago. “We should start working with a long-term vision for at least 100 years, not for 5 years,” he said. Amoud Hekman, head of the portfolio unit of the Asian Development Bank, said happiness is a key component of a livable city.
He said that planning is really important in urban development. “That alone makes the city go in the right direction,” he said. Urban development is a place for integrated planning and works accordingly.
Tirtharaj Bhattarai, Mayor of Diktel Rupakot Majhuwagadhi Municipality of Khotang, said that it takes up to 6 hours to reach from one ward to another ward in the hilly municipalities. ‘It will be more worth living in the municipality after the construction of the ring road, a green municipality with agri-tourism and hospitals,’
