KATHMANDU, Feb 29: The government, through the annual budget of the current fiscal year, has aimed to formulate a master plan on developing three smart cities and implementing it.
The government had announced to develop smart cities in Kathmandu Valley, Lumbini and transforming Nijgadh, Bara into a smart city.
But, even seven months after the announcement, the government has failed to come up with a master plan. The only thing it has done is defining a smart city.
“We have reached a conclusion on features of smart cities we are planning to build,” Spokesperson at Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Planning, “Smart city has been defined in the national urban development strategy.”
He blamed lack of budget for failure of implementing the announcement.
“We don’t have budget to continue the works on the master plan,” he said.
Senior Division Engineer at Department of Urban Development & Building Construction Suresh Kumar Wagle told Republica Online that construction of smart cities has not been included in annual work plan of the department.
“The department plans to develop new 10 cities to be constructed along the Mid-Hill Highway as smart cities,” he said.