Sustainable economic development will be achieved through systematic urbanization

Minister Budha said that the intensive urban development program started in the financial year 2073/74 has been extended to 132 municipalities with the goal of developing it as a sustainable, inclusive and beautiful city with long-term thinking.

Answering the questions raised by the MPs on the Ministry's Appropriation Bill in the Sunday session of the House of Representatives, Minister Budha said that the work of systematic urbanization has been carried forward in a planned manner.

Minister Budha said that the budget for urban development has been focused on providing quality urban infrastructure, services and facilities for building a safe, clean, orderly and economically dynamic city. "Infrastructure construction has been continued in 27 market centers with the intention of developing the small market centers of Madhyapahari Lokmarg, Hulaki Highway and Terai Madhes and Himal Hills that have some economic potential as new cities," he said.

Minister Budha said that the budget has been allocated to implement programs in all 77 districts from the union, state and local levels to facilitate the living of the people by developing more infrastructure in the existing settlements and to make the lives of the people at risk from the point of view of disasters as possible relocated.

'Even though the ministry is doing the work of integrated settlement development along with the relocation of risky settlements, the success of the integrated settlement is also linked to the feelings and livelihood of the individual/community, but due to these challenges, effective results have not been given,' Minister Budha said.

According to Minister Budha, under the Urban Resilience and Livelihood Improvement Program with the support of the Asian Development Bank, the main tourist cities of the country, Pokhara, Janakpur and the municipalities in the Lumbini Corridor, Lumbini Cultural, Devdah, Sainamaina, Tilottama, Ramgram and Siddharthnagar have been built into disaster resilient and livable cities. The budget has been allocated so that the project will be implemented from the next financial year after making an agreement with the donor agency to develop it.

Nawalparasi (before Bardghat Susta) and Rukum before developing the government office building and other infrastructure construction has been prioritized, he said. He said that with the help of the Asian Development Bank, the budget has been allocated to complete the regional urban development project in four municipalities of Sudurpaschim Province in the coming year.

Through the Janata Awas program implemented by the state government, more than 42 thousand houses have been constructed with an investment of about 18 billion so far. He said that this program has been continued to be implemented through the state government in the coming year as well. Minister Budha said, 'In order to implement the fundamental right to housing provided by the constitution, under the Housing Rights Act, Safe Citizen Housing Program, around seven billion have been invested so far and the roofs of 80,000 residential buildings have been replaced with zinc sheets.'

Minister Budha said that due to the limited availability of budget, progress has not been achieved as per the target and the budget has been allocated to continue this program to be implemented at the local level.

Minister Budha says that construction of emergency shelters has been continued to provide shelter to the community during natural disasters. He informed that the budget has been allocated to complete the construction of the Federal Parliament building in the coming year. According to him, the local level administrative building infrastructure development program, local level road, bridge and community access improvement project, suspension bridge regional program, Karnali prosperity program, Tarai Madhes road infrastructure development program and high hilly and Himalayan region prosperity program have been continued.

From the ceiling received by the Ministry of Urban Development in accordance with the spirit of federalism, 68.33 million will be implemented by the union in the coming year, 7.67 billion 7.7 million for the program implemented by the state and 15.64 billion 33 million for the program implemented by the local level, a total of 91 billion 35 crore 23 lakh budget has been allocated .

Through the Kathmandu Valley Development Authority, according to the Kathmandu Valley Development Authority Act 2045, Basic Construction Standards for Settlement Development, Urban Planning and Building Construction 2072, Planning Permit Standards 2062, 15 percent for the private sector for roads and at least 5 percent for open space, physical development plan Minister Budha says that permission to operate has been granted.

He informed that there is a plan to provide drinking water and other infrastructure while developing housing in 100,000 and 30,000 in the east corner of Kathmandu valley and 10/10,000 in the other three corners. Among them, he said that the plan for the implementation of the new urban physical development plan of Ishan Kon is in the process of being submitted to the Government of Nepal for the approval of the Cabinet.

A budget of five crores has been allocated for the Arani hall in Bhaktapur in the current year. The Ministry of Urban Development has been working by building large and medium cities and investing in urban areas in order to develop a balanced national and regional urban form, and when allocating budget from the Ministry of Urban Development, the focus has been on building infrastructure in all the cities of the Terai, which are experiencing rapid urbanization due to high internal migration and high population pressure. He says .

According to him, the ministry is also leading the way to contribute to the achievement of the goal of a prosperous Nepal and a happy Nepali by realizing the idea of ​​expanding the program in the areas of urban development, housing, buildings and local precincts under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Urban Development.