Kathmandu Sustainable Urban Transport project will improve traffic management and make the city center more pedestrian-friendly by improving sidewalks and making heritage routes pedestrian-only. It will also enhance air quality monitoring
Background
Nepal’s population, estimated at 26.5 million as of 2011, is projected to grow to 30.4 million by 2021 and 33.6 million by 2031 (CBS, 2014). Kathmandu, the capital city and largest city of Nepal, has a population of 2.5 million people in the Kathmandu Valley, which is a growth of 4 percent per year, one of the fastest-growing metropolitan areas in South Asia. The increase in population has led to the number of motor vehicles to also increase tremendously. Around 12,00,000 vehicles are currently registered in Kathmandu Valley. It is estimated that around 40% of the total trips of Kathmandu is through walking. Cycling is just 1.5 percent of the total trips.
Challenges
Traffic congestion continues to be an issue in Nepal despite the government trying to manage it through expansion and widening of roads. Though the share of NMT (walking and cycling) is significantly high compared to other travel modes, it has not been prioritized in urban transport planning. Pedestrians walk on narrow and poorly maintained sidewalks, and cyclists share the roadway with motorized traffic. A walkability study (assessment of pedestrian infrastructure and services) in 2010 showed that 94% of surveyed road stretches in Kathmandu are categorized as ‘Not Walk-able’.
Successes
In 2012 JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency) undertook a survey to make recommendations on traffic improvement in the Kathmandu Valley – many of these proposed improvements involved NMT. The Kathmandu Sustainable Urban Transport Project, founded in 2015, is being implemented with the assistance of the Asian Development Bank, and consists of four major improvement components comprising public transport, traffic management, pedestrianization, and air quality.
In addition, Nepal has an Environment-friendly Vehicle and Transport Policy (2014), which aims to provide a subsidy scheme for the promotion of electric and non-motorized vehicles.
Kathmandu’s master plan (draft, 2012) includes the following NMT recommendations:
- Separation from vehicles is crucial in the central commercial and heritage areas where walking is the most important travel mode.
- Establish a pedestrian network plan as the most primary travel mode.
- Bicycles have the potential to become citizens’ means of daily transportation. The future master plan shall take into account the latent possibility of bicycle use in Kathmandu Valley.
- Promoting walking and cycling will not only contribute to decreasing the vehicles but also contribute to improved environment in air quality and noise and to decrease the energy consumption.
Currently, cycle rallies are being organized to attract the attention of the city planners to develop infrastructure for cycling. Lalitpur metropolitan city has already allocated budget for developing a 4.7km bicycle lane and has already initiated study of the bicycle lane.
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