Government declared 72 new municipalities in Nepal. With this, the total number of municipalities have increased to 130 from earlier total of 58. This inclusion has reduced the number of VDCs to 3633 from 3916. Now the total percent of urban population in Nepal stays at 42% ( The Kantipur daily)
However, the decision for declaring 3 new municipalities ( 1 in Kathmandu 2 in Lalitpur districts) within Kathmandu valley remains pending due to VDCs boundaries issues. But, they are also expected to get declared very soon.
This has certainly called for implementation of building code and Risk sensitive land use planning in these new municipalities, before the market forces bring the fragile unplanned sprawl. In Nepal, as per LSGA 1999, the municipality must prepare 5 years periodic plan which envisage comprehensive development plan for the municipal area. This will definitely pave the way for mainstreaming DRR in local development plans and policies.
It is always effective to support when they are young.
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