One of the places blessed by the nature but ruthlessly disfigured by its own residents is the Kathmandu city. The government, however, seems to have rolled up its sleeve to prevent further damage to the citys look.

The Urban Development Ministry claims that its "city beautification project" started two months ago has already started to show positive results.

The concept which was endorsed by a ministerial level meeting on 26 June proposes to make cities greener, fresher and well managed. According to Thapa, the target would be achieved sooner or later, with public support.

“We had announced the city beautification concept around 2 months ago. Its aim is to enhance the beauty of the major urban areas in the country. Regarding the valley, we are starting by removing the haphazardly placed hoarding boards,” said secretary at the Ministry Kishore Thapa. “Many more actions related to this are ongoing at Dharan, Pokhara, Tikapur, Ghorahi and Dhankuta.”

The project floated by the ministry has a long list of things to be achieved, making it too ambitious. The guidelines of the project states that the people would not be allowed to leave their houses unpainted. Moreover, if the building is near the main road, they have to maintain the greenery and gardens around the house.The ministry also plans to limit the choice of colors to be used by public vehicles to just 3 to 4 colors.

“It looks more beautiful and soothing if the colors of the public vehicles are similar. So, we have decided to limit the colors of the vehicles to 3 to 4 at the maximum,” Thapa said. “In addition, we are also going to phase out old vehicles.”

In course of making the urban areas look better and healthier, the ministry is also thinking of managing solid waste far more effectively. “One of the major issues of the valley is sanitation and drainage management. Similarly, a lot could be achieved if we could draw energy out of solid wastes. We are going to work in this line,” he said.

Another government body which claims to have been relentlessly working for the capital?s solid waste management is Alternative Energy Promotion Center (AEPC), according to which, the generation of household waste generation vary from a range of 0.12 kg to 0.54 kg per day in the country. It has recorded approximate waste in the Kathamndu district alone to be 450 tons per day.

“Apart from the Valley being turned into concrete jungle, it has also become dirty due to lack of waste management,” commented Dr Govind Pokhrel, executive director at AEPC. “If the government wants to succeed in making the city look nicer, waste management should be its first priority,” he added.

Studies have shown that the valley has high potential for both bigger and smaller energy generation project. AEPC has for long insisted on generating energy from the waste collected from industries, healthcare centers, army barracks, slaughter houses, hotels and hostels, among other places.
However, since both AEPC and the Urban Development Ministry has just floated their ideas but not taken concrete action in this line so far, the garbage collected from the valley is everyday taken to Sisdol of Nuwakot district for dumping.

According to Thapa, a recent development is the construction of a sanitary landfill site in Sisdol. “One of the major works being done is the construction of a sanitary landfill site in Sisdol which makes the waste management more effective,” he said.

Acting secretary of the Ministry Suresh Prakash Acharya added that greenery alongside the main roads in the valley is the first priority of the city beautification project. “There are a number of tasks to do in the valley. Whats drawing our attention is the ongoing road expansion. It is very important to minimize the ugliness due to the expansion drive,” said Acharya. “Under the greenery project of the valley, the ministry is going to first paint some blocks along the roadsides and plant trees,” he added.

The road expansion drive initiated by the Baburam Bhattarai government was expected to complete much earlier. The government had later claimed that it was going to get the job done by the end of the June at any cost.

Even though the government has always delivered much less than its promises, the city beatification project looks achievable at least on paper. Thapa further stated that the Ministry would not allow construction of overhead bridges or other infrastructures to directly block beautiful natural scenes in the valley. “Likewise, there are cobweb of wires here and there. We need to manage such things. Improving traffic management is another concern.”

The ministry has not yet fully estimated the timeline and budget of the ambitious project.

City beautification project works include:
> Removing hoarding boards from private houses
> Controlling sound pollution
> Setting up well managed slaughter houses
> Managing cobweb of wires
> Solid waste management to generate power
> Encouraging use of electric vehicles
> Phasing out outdated or polluted vehicles
> Encouraging public to promote greenery

source: republica,2 Sep 2013