Nepal : urban development assessment

The major objectives of this Urban Development Assessment (UDA) are to provide an overview of the urbanization process and to estimate future trends; identify urbanization problems which need to be addressed; and provide the basis for dialogue with the Government of Nepal. The UDA does not have as its intended goal the proposition of major capital or technical assistance projects. A key output of the study is the first time organization and presentation of the urban development-related data base drawn from diverse secondary sources, interviews, and observations. The UDA relates urbanization to population growth trends and migration patterns; describes the existing settlement system and discusses the structure of government with emphasis on urban planning and housing; and it presents the urban implications of major sectoral programs (industry, agriculture, tourism, energy, water supply, transportation, and communications). Major conclusions are: (1) investment priority should continue to be on agriculture and the inter-urban networks (transport, power, communications) which serve both urban and rural development; (2) urbanization will accelerate in the future and in fact should be encouraged because of the dangerously high person/land ratios in the hills and the limited capacity of the Terai (lowlands) to accommodate new population in rural areas; and (3) the national planning commission should be urged to prepare a national urban policy as part of the upcoming Seventh Five-Year Plan. The UDA suggests that the urban policy should consider facilitating rural to urban migration, encouraging private sector involvement in urban job generation, improving public sector procedures for preparing urban land with minimal infrastructure, assigning first priority in urban infrastructure to potable water supply, reducing land speculation, supporting the decentralization policies of the GON, and revitalizing the urban planning process. (PRE/H-supplied abstract)