Emphasis on making traffic management of Kathmandu more effective

Kathmandu, Aug 3: Minister for Physical Infrastructure and Transport Devendra Dahal has laid emphasis in making traffic management in the Kathmandu Valley more effective and user-friendly, highlighting the region’s role as the federal capital and its rich cultural diversity.

Minister Dahal expressed his dismay that although Kathmandu Valley, comprising districts like Kathmandu, Lalitpur and Bhaktapur, is the centre of country’s economic, cultural and administrative activities, its transport system remains unorganized.

Dahal, thus, called for decisive steps to streamline the transportation system in the Valley in a meeting of stakeholders on the Strategic Environmental Assessment of the Kathmandu Valley Urban Transport System Master Plan Project in Lalitpur today.

He worried that the state of transportation system had deteriorated despite the rollout of first transport management related master plan in 2012 and update later in 2017.

The Minister also noted the increasing number of vehicles, unorganized urbanization, and insufficient infrastructures contributing to traffic jams, delays and rising air pollution had not only negatively impacted transportation system but also economic productivity and public health.

He, therefore, viewed that there should not be no any delay in effectively managing transportation system.

The Minister cautioned, “If we do not take decisive actions now, the situation will further deteriorate which will negatively impact the environment of the Valley and put its sustainability at risk. This Project could be our last chance to find both short-term and long-term solutions.”

Similarly, Minister for Forest and Environment Ain Bahadur Shahi reaffirmed the commitment for the cooperation and coordination on the part of his Ministry for effective traffic management in the Valley.

Likewise, Keshav Kumar Sharma, Secretary at the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport, underscored multilateral coordination for ensuring sustainable, safe and inclusive transport system in the Kathmandu Valley.

During the meeting, experts of the concerned agencies had presented concept paper on how to make transport system effective and user-friendly in Kathmandu Valley.