Of the total budget of Rs 220 million, Rs 80 million has been allocated for beautification works alone, said Bimal Rijal, Urban Development Division chief at the Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC). According to Rijal, the beautification drive will build greenery patches and flower beds besides planting trees along the sidewalks. “We will be able to witness the change within a year,” he said.

With funding from the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the metropolis is improving 15 kilometres of existing footpaths in central areas while 8 kilometres in the core area will be paved with stones. The project is being implemented by the Lumbini-Raman Joint Venture in areas such as Durbar Marg, Putalisadak, Teku, Tundikhel, Tripureshwor, Kalimati and Lazimpat.

The KMC is also removing billboards causing “visual pollution” from various places and replacing them with electronic display boards. “Though the existing boards were generating revenue, almost all of them have been removed. The ones at overhead bridges, however, are intact as we are bound by 20-year contracts for them,” KMC Spokesperson Shanta Ram Pokhrel said.

More ambitiously, the metropolis has also planned to remove beggars from the streets. Hawkers and costermongers have already been displaced from the streets during an earlier campaign. “You cannot pollute the city by staying on the road,” Pokhrel said.

The city beautification drive was part of the government’s preparations for the Saarc summit held in Kathmandu in November last year. Major roads in the city were renovated with solar lamps, traffic signs and green patches were installed throughout.

“If only we could sustain the achievements made during the summit, we will have come a long way,” Rijal said, admitting that mistakes were made in the past by abandoning completed projects.

“Ratna Park has been given a facelift. We are repainting structures in public places. Roads are being cleaned up using road broomer machines. Solar lamps are installed throughout the city. This time, we are going to see this through,” he said.