The Kathmandu Valley Urban Development Plans and Programmes Study
This Project, the latest in a series of master plans that have been proposed for Kathmandu Valley over the past three decades, was funded by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and executed by a British consulting firm, Halcrow Fox and Associates. The study started in October 1990 and was over by September 1991.
The project's terms of reference was a detailed document that held much promise. The consultants' brief was to develop a comprehensive "Valley Structure Plan" incorporating development planning, infrastructural programmes (for transport, sewerage, drainage and water supply) and land-use, economic and population strategies, all projected to the year 2015. There was also to be a "Central Area Plan" for Kathmandu with proposals for land-use pattern, population densities, open spaces and public facilities, preservation of areas, and investment.
Halcrow Fox was also to propose the following: local area plans for suburban development, focusing on drainage, water supply and investment; land development proposals with a focus on public and private sector ventures, financing and cost recovery; a five year slum upgrading programme identifying sites and cost estimates; riverside protection plans, and programmes for environmental management with reference to air quality, water quality as well as an economic analysis. On top of all this, Halcrow Fox experts were asked to provide economic and financial justification for each proposed programme, including cost recovery mechanism such as land taxation, prepare recommendations for financing and to provide a schedule for planned investments. They were to review the existing organisational structure, propose institutional development, make a broad based assessment of the housing sector, and make proposals.