5th Kathmandu Sustainable Urban Mobility Forum

 Clean Air Network Nepal (CANN), Clean Energy Nepal (CEN), in collaboration with Resource Center For Primary Health Care (RECPHEC) and Clean Air Asia(CAA ) jointly organized “5th Kathmandu Sustainable Urban Mobility Forum-an effort to ensure walking and cycling friendly environment”, on 18th May, 2016. The annual forum aims to bring the stakeholders together to initiate policy dialogue to enhance partnership and collaboration among stakeholders and to share initiatives and best practices on sustainable urban mobility and better air quality in the valley. This year the discussion was focused on need and importance of walking and cycling for better air quality.

During the program Mr. Rajan Thapa, Coordinator of CEN/CANN presented on walkability condition of four cities-Lalitpur, Bhaktapur, Kathmandu and Pokhara. Comparing the walkability index of the cities, he stated that walkability index of Kathmandu is the highest making it least walkable and the lowest walkability index is of Pokhara making it more walkable city. In addition to Mr. Thapa Mr.Prashanta Khanal, clean air advocate highlighted that the budget or fund is never the constraint, but priority and perspective are. He further added that the policies related to urban road standards are not being implemented properly resulting to poor development of infrastructures.

Mrs. Debra Efroymson, Regional Director of Canadian NGO Health Bridge expressed the current condition of cities and suggested the needs of livable cities for present and future generation. Mr. Prakash Bhave, Senior Air Quality Specialist, ICIMOD, revealed that Kathmandu ranked 261 among 2973 cities in the world in terms of PM 2.5 (WHO Global Urban Ambient Air Pollution Database, 2016). However, he also mentioned that the pollution level in Kathmandu is increasing in terms of PM 2.5 and there is dire need of controlling it.

Mr. Akhanda Sharma, Senior Divisional Engineer, Clean Development Mechanism, MoPE highlighted the developments and programs that the Population and Environment Ministry has been promoting cycling culture. A documentary “Walking situation of Kathmandu valley” was presented by Ms. Kamana Manandhar, program officer from RECPHEC. The documentary depicted the current scenario of road infrastructures inside the Kathmandu valley.

Speaking as the Chief Guest, Mr. Krishna Gyawali, Former Secretary of Environment Ministry and National Coordinator of Millennium Challenge Nepal, he highlighted that non-motorized transport system like cycling and walking should be harmonized with the motorized transport system. He stressed on the current problem of transportation like lack of strict enforcement of laws, attitude and concerned for the sustainable transport system.

Mr. Gagan Thapa, Parliament member shared that people are not realizing the needs of footpaths and pedestrian friendly infrastructures with more priority to newly constructed roads for inclusion of cycle lanes and footpaths. In addition, former Environment minister, Mr. Ganesh Shah, stressed that there is need of mass awareness for tackling air pollution problem. He expressed that transportation of construction materials is one of the major cause of air pollution. Closing the keynote remarks session Mr. Bharat Basnet, Chairman of Clean Energy Nepal, opined that air pollution is concerned with our life and livelihood so this issue should be considered seriously.

The panel discussion and Open Forum was facilitated by Mr. Prashanta Khanal and the panelist were Ms. Rama Maiya Manadhar, Outer Ringroad Project Kathmandu, Mr. Sabin Pradhan, Metropolitan Traffic Police Division (MTPD), Mr. Araniko Pandey, International Center for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), Mr. Shail Shrestha, Digo Bikash Institute, Mr. Umesh Jha, Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport (MOPIT).

Ms. Rama Maiya Manandhar explained that outer ring road is not only a road project but also an initiative to develop a planned urban settlement. Land pooling can be beneficial while developing outer ring road in Kathmandu. Mr. Araniko from ICIMOD mentioned that vehicles are one of the big sources of air pollution and brick kilns, garbage burning, occasional sources like forest fire and transboundry air pollution etc. also contribute for the air pollution in Kathmandu. He stated that for controlling the air pollution short term activities like installation of air quality monitoring devices and long term plan like reducing the dependency on fossil fuel, combination of electric and non-motorized transportation in the city can be adopted. Mr. Sabin Pradhan, MTPD, stated that traffic police is conducting classes about road safety and rules for school children and citizens on a regular basis. He was saddened with the lack of their participation in decision making processes. The importance of the stability of the government was highlighted by Mr. Shail Shrestha from Digo Bikas Institute while responding on the slow achievement on building Kathmandu as a cycle friendly city. He stated that safer cycle networks should be developed to cross the city safely in cycle and the traffic police should be able to have their say in any policy making processes to avoid any wrong decisions. Mr. Umesh Jha of MoPIT explained that due to less road areas it has been difficult to build cycle lanes and wider footpaths but they are continuously putting their effort in it. He added that they are trying to merge and reduce the numbers of bus unions for the even flow and management of the public transportation in all the routes. Mr. Kamal Raj Gosai, Executive Director of Clean Energy Nepal in his thanks note highlighted the importance living in a place with clean air and with sound mobility. He mentioned that strong advocacy will draw attention of the government for making plans and policies for livable cities.

Over 70 participants from international, national and local governmental agencies, non-governmental agencies, developmental agencies, transport experts, urban planners, academia, private sectors and media personnel participated in the forum.