Making the city green, how to approach
China has paced up in development and implementing their appraoch can be difficult due to their advance technology but learning from India and their techniques to remold the city as Gujrat and Andra Pradesh can be inspiration for us .
Renovation of Kathmandu valley is undergoing in view of the 18th SAARC summit that is going to take place in Kathmandu valley in mid-November this year. Many constructional and renovation work is paced up with full swing to make valley a Green City for this Summit. The KMC along with other national agencies are completing their task in a rapid way. This work performance has satisfied the public about the efficiency of the work that is being taken place but this also has increased risk about the effectiveness of the approach that weather it will exist for long time or not. The proper planning and quality material along with proper construction techniques is required for increasing the effectives of the work.
It is expected that around 180 million is to be invested for this renovation process. Maintaining greenery in the valley, renovation of roads and heritages sites, planning of valley is included in this process. This approach can benefit us in tremendous ways but working just to complete the task overlooking the engineering aspects and environmental aspect can just make the city green and clean for some days and again the valley will return to its original state so there is also risk of this rapid approach. The entire concern department who are taking active part in this process should ensure these things and they should check properly for the planning and quality which can help them in tremendous ways in the days to come.
Normally, planning for the green city which can be good for settlement considering tremendous aspect is termed as Urban Planning. This is a technical and political process concerned with the astute use of land and design of the urban environment, which encompass air and water and infrastructure associated with the areas such as transportation and distribution networks. The astute urban planning can guide us for the good city and also ensures the orderly development of settlements and also can maintain good satellite communities which commute with the urban areas and helps to share resources with it.
The planning encompasses many important aspects such as research and analysis, strategic thinking, architectural development, urban design and implementation, public consultation, policy recommendation, implementation and management. All this ensures the approach to be more engineered and our approach to be taken place in collaboration with the environment. Normally, for planning a city prior research and analysis along with proper planning and mapping of the task is done. In developed countries GIS mapping is done in prior and tentative analysis is performed in order to maintain the effectiveness of the work.
The mapping of residential areas, public parks, proper plans for drainage and proper place of waste management, proper water outlets, planning of canals, transportation networks, energy efficiency approach, communication management and every other aspect is planned in prior of the settlement. This not only systematizes the settlement but also helps to make us aware about the future plans, future challenges and management of the calamities and many more. This all ensure for the green city, just to plant trees doesn’t make city a greener city, there are many parameters to be taken place for a vision of green city. The only aim of green city is to take up the approach in collaboration with the environment. Our approach shouldn’t distract the cycle of the environment.
Our country also can take up some approach if our vision is for developed Nepal and Green Nepal. The first problem of this polluted and risky Kathmandu is due to over population. We should drag our attention to check the population of this place; our approach becomes nugatory when population become uncontrolled. The centralization of development and important approach in Kathmandu valley must be decentralized. Planning and implementation of development in other cities, making every city a hub for opportunity and exploration can help us in many ways.
For proper settlement we can implement a very accessible engineering idea, we can make a certification process for every approach that our public intake. It can be planning a town, planning for a residential building and many more. Normally we have a certification process but the approach is somewhat ineffective. We only provide prior check but any certification will be meaningful only after the entire construction is over when it can be verified whether the planning or construction has come up strictly and in accordance with the approved design and also weather quality is good or not. So the whole exercise- the initial approach, interim checks and then only final certification is must. This task can add up more work but ultimately it can bring good implementation. These rules must be followed for every developmental process.
In this extend we also have to refer our neighboring counties as china and India and their progressive approach. China have paced up in development and to implement their ideas can be somewhat difficult for us due to their advance technological run but the development that is taking place in India especially in Gujrat, Andra Pradesh can inspire our approach. Our deeds should not be limited just in Kathmandu but if we really want to develop one place we should also develop other possible places and this helps for possible development of any places. This development process is like a chain process, one has influence with others.
The Article is published in The himalayan times, Op-Ed Section, National paper of Nepal
