Kathmandu Chronicles 2025 of an Urban Planner #3: On service delivery

Local government is where the rubber meets the road in terms of the general public enjoying the fruits of democracy.

An administration and the elected representatives must improve the daily life of the general public or solve their problems.

If they fail to do that, they are useless to the voters.

Same applies to a professional discipline. An urban planner who does not contribute towards improving the lives of the city’s inhabitants or solve the city dwellers’ problems, s/he is merely engaging in an academic exercise.

What does the above framework look like in real life?

Service delivery.

Examples:

1. You get hassle-free and efficient administrative services from your Ward office. Such as getting approval to build your family home within X weeks. Administrative services have improved (I was able to register a business within a matter of hours!) but there is room for improvement. You simplify and get this right, our people will worship the Ward officers and elected members - I guarantee you. This is the most heard complaint that ‘lyang lyang gardincha Ward le’.

2. You, your old parents and your young children can drive and walk safely on clean well-managed streets and footpaths.

3. You are able to read books for yourself and with your children and grandchildren in the local library.

4. Your children and grandchildren have parks to run around and play.

5. Your Municipality has a system and process to ask you for your opinion on matters that impact you directly. Such as allocating the municipal budget in their annual budget.

The above are not rocket science. Those are practical things that could be implemented with simple initiatives.

We have to get our basics right first. Deliver services to our tax payers. Improve their lives. Solve their daily problems.

Once we get our basics in place then we can think about how to check the air pollution. Once we free ourselves from getting entangled in daily nitty gritty, then we can work on grand visions such as ‘how to make Kathmandu a metropolis with a status of a regional hub of the South Asian region’ (competing with the likes of New Delhi). This can be done.

For now, let’s start with getting the basics right first.

Let’s deliver the services that our city dwellers deserve.

(Image: Yesterday with the Deputy Mayor Sunita Dangol at her office in काठमाडौँ महानगरपालिका-Kathmandu Metropolitan City Office. I posted this image because she is one of the top elected representatives of our city. She is our city's leader. I have been trying to meet with the Mayor since 2023 but no success. He doesn't have to meet with me but he is running a public office funded by our tax. He continues to remain behind a close, confined and impenetrable iron curtains insulating himself from his voters and the media. This neither helps the tax payers nor the Mayor's office. His close advisors of the sachibalaya, please pass this unsolicited advice to the Mayor saap Balen jyu. I say this will all the good intentions and wishing success to his tenure. His success is symbolic not only for Kathmandu but also for the entire nation. I saw his images in front of trucks when I was travelling from Kathmandu to Pokhara. Please improve your public relations before it's too late. Best wishes from a lad born and bred in Kathmandu and an urban planner)

Posted on facebook during my Nepal visit April-May, 2025