Earlier, the urban areas in the country were classified on the basis of population and annual income, among other things. But the Department of Urban Development and Building Construction (DUDBC) under the Ministry of Urban Development (MoUD), the authority responsible for planned urbanization in the country, has proposed seven new criteria. DUDBC will also reassess if the existing urban administrative divisions meet the newly set standards. [break]
As per the existing standards, an administrative division with a population of at least 300,000 is classified as a metropolitan city. Similarly, administrative divisions with populations of at least 100,000 and 20,000 have been classified as sub-metropolitan city and municipalities respectively.
If the proposal is approved, urban areas will be classified on the basis of population, growth rate, location advantage, geography, number of shops and roads.
“As the urban areas were classified primarily on the basis of population, many rural areas turned into municipalities. It also created room for political interference. These areas had no urban amenities. So, we decided to revise the standards,” said Director General of DUBC Ramesh Prasad Singh.
As per the proposed standards, a metropolitan city should have a population of above 300,000, sub-metropolitan city between 100,000, and 300,000 and municipality 100,000.
Likewise, DUDBC will also give high priority to urban areas linked with east-west highway and mid-hills highway.
DUDBC will also allocate more budget for infrastructure development in the far western region of the country, said Singh. In metro cities, the government will develop national level stadiums, intra city and inter bus terminals, convention halls, wholesale and retail markets and slaughter houses, among others. Likewise, infrastructure required for sub-metropolitan cities and emerging urban areas will be developed accordingly.
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