Valley
Fourth municipal assembly of Kathmandu passes four bills for reforms
The fourth municipal assembly of the Kathmandu Metropolitan City on Sunday passed four bills related to local governance to make city planning more effective and public oriented.Anup Ojha
The fourth municipal assembly of the Kathmandu Metropolitan City on Sunday passed four bills related to local governance to make city planning more effective and public oriented.
The bills passed by the assembly are Urban Planning Commission (Formation and Operation Guideline) Act 2075 BS, Public Private Partnership and Investment Act 2075 BS, Disaster Mitigation and Management Act 2075 BS and Municipal Transportation Management Act 2075 BS.
Among these bills, the Municipal Transportation Management Act 2075 has set the tallest of goals: managing the city’s notorious traffic and public transport system. The Act envisages a series of legislations, from introducing electronic tickets to what songs passenger-carrying vehicles are allowed to play.
The Act talks about replacing the existing paper tickets by electronic ones at a time when the authoritis have been unable to address the simplest of problems facing the city’s transport system.
The Act also proposes regulating advertisements on public vehciles. Advertisements cannot be placed on public transports without the permission of the city authority, the Act has proposed.
Playing “vulgar” songs, pasting provocative images and using expletive language in public vehicles have also been prohibited by the Act.
Similarly, public vehicles will have to operate from 5am until 10pm and pick and drop passengers only at designated stops.
While municipal assembly, chaired by Kathmandu Mayor Bidya Sundar Shakya, passed the bills with ambitious plans of reforms, it clearly lacks a roadmap for their implementation.