In 1974, the Federal Republic of Ger¬many sponsored the first major deve¬lopment effort in Bhaktapur, a project designed to "tackle the economic and social problems … and to preserve the valuable cultural heritage" of this Kath-mandu Valley town inhabited by the Newar community. In its early .years. the Bhaktapur Development Project (BDP) concentrated on restoring im¬portant architectural monuments, temr pies, resthouses and historic buildings in the north-east section, and began constructing a modern water and sewer-age system. Forced, in part, by the local population´s protests, the BDP transi-tioned from technical, restoration to a community development project. BDP´s work began to taper off in 1983 and finally ended in 1985, so´ the time is now perhaps ripe to assess its record against the backdrop of the development reality in Bhaktapur.
Economic Centre
Bhaktapur´s former prosperity was dependent on its role as an economic centre for surrounding village areas, especially those to the east, and this position was undermined by the new road networks that favoured Kathmandu. The BDP itself recommended that the southern outskirts of town where the main highway passes not be developed, a fact that undoubtedly contributed to Bhaktapur´s failure to exploit its location. Stopping the natural economic evolution of the city because it violates the "museum aproach" to the town was a recurring error in BDP logic. Its planners failed to comprehend that unless enough new local weajth is generated, the local economy can never maintain the temples, houses aud monasteries which is haslso carefully restored.
In housing, BDP put its prestige on the line by having the local government pass ordinances that legally limited the Newars´ freedom to rebuild their houses with new designs and with newer building materials such as corrugated iron and cement. The project thought that the town residents could be coerced into foregoing architectural change by relegating them to their own past. Despite these laws, residents have continued to rebuild using proscribed designs and materials because they refuse to live inefficiently. BDP, of course, had to backdown on such unrealistic demands.
Expensive toilets
An analysis of BDP´s work on drinking water and sewer systems shows how the project, when it finally got out of the drawing room and unto street level, so often misread the situation in Bhaktapur. The pubticy works design erred in channeling rainwater into the sewer system, thereby depriving an essential resource to farmers tilling some of the best rice fields just outside town. Those farmers soon remedied the situation by breaking open the waste pipe.