Nepal

Having demolished several “encroached structures” in the capital city, Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC) Mayor Balen Shah is not done.

KMC officials told NepalMinute that the mayor has bigger plans, including clearing road, pavement or parking space encroachment in over 250 commercial, government and even diplomatic complexes.

After a hectic and tension-filled Thursday, the mayor remained at the office on Friday and was not seen visiting any demolition sites, including the Department of Passport, where the KMC team cleared the basement meant for parking.

Social media is filled with mixed reactions from supporters and naysayers.

Asked where Balen is visiting next, Sunil Lamsal engineer and a member of the mayor’s secretariat said: “We don’t pre-plan, we decide it in the immediate meeting, hours ago.

“And we don’t inform the media to not create a crowd and panic, we just try to inform the property owner.”

He added: “But one thing is true, we will take action against all who violate the policy.”

According to Lamsal, KMC launched the demolition drive to ease traffic congestion in the capital city: “We hope we can ease the problem by more than 25 percent after this drive.”

Writing on his Facebook page, the mayor said that “rules are equal to everyone and KMC will take action against all violators”.

Next phase

Easing the parking space has been the primary focus for Balen and his team for a while now. But the team has even broader plans in the coming days.

Lamsal said: “This is the first phase of work we are carrying out, in the next phase, we will take action against encroachment of public spaces.”

KMC is so determined in its drive that it wouldn’t even spare “government buildings” and “embassies”.

According to Lamsal, they have found nine embassies encroaching into public space and they have already sent letters via the Ministry of Federal Affairs & General Administration and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to pressure them.

Lamsal giving an example of Tukucha, a river that follows through the heart of Kathmandu said: “There is massive encroachment in the river which flows through Durbarmarg, we do have a rule that says four to 10 metres of setback should be left but that rule is not being followed.”
“We are investigating other places too and we will go into action on this.”

He hopes that people’s perspective toward following rules as well as public spaces will change with these actions.

He added: “We do want to improve the lives of KMC people, easing up public spaces, and traffic congestion will ultimately benefit everyone in the valley.”