World Habitat Day being observed on Monday

Kathmandu: The ‘World Habitat Day-2022’ is being observed in Nepal by organizing various programmes on Monday. The celebration of the Day is delayed this year as the first Monday of October, the day observed every year, coincided with the occasion of Dashain in Nepal.

The World Habitat Day, 2022 main celebration committee organized a press conference on Sunday and shared information about the activities being conducted for the Day. The Day is marked globally every first Monday of October at the call of the UN since 1986.

Celebration committee coordinator and Chief of the Housing Division at the Ministry of Urban Development, Joint Secretary Ramchandra Dangal, said Nepal had been observing the Day since 2001. A seminar is being organized to observe the Day where experts would present working papers on various themes, including urban development and smart city.

The Ministry, Kathmandu Valley Development Authority, Institute of Engineering, and Kathmandu and Lalitpur Metropolitan Cities will present the working papers, he added.

Similarly, Housing Company Ltd, UN-Habitat, Municipal Development Trust and various municipalities are conducting the programmes, stressing the need for sustainable and environment-friendly urban development, according to the Department of Urban Development and Building Construction.

It was also informed that the housing programme and safe people’s housing programme the government had launched were being enforced at both provincial and local levels.

The central government was coordinating the programmes, according to Joint Secretary Dangal. The representatives at federal, provincial and local levels have been given the authority to select the beneficiaries. Chief of the Programme Section at the Department, Mira Gyawali, said that Rs 3.41 billion was allocated for both programmes in this fiscal year.

However, it would require an additional budget of Rs 5 billion in order to complete these programmes in this fiscal year. The Constitution of Nepal, 2015 has ensured the right to housing as the fundamental right of citizens.