It has even recommended the government to substantially hike customs duty to check sharp rise in import of vehicles into the country, something which contradicts with the aspirations of middle-income group of the country.
MoPPW´s proposal for improving Valley traffic
Short-term
- Discourage easy financing on vehicles
- Hike import duty, renewal fees
- Encourage public, private firms to vary their office hour
Long-term
- Introduce fees for vehicles entering congestion zones
- Policy encouragement for using public transportation
- Study possibility of constructing light rail
In an initial vision paper on ´Kathmandu Sustainable Urban Transport Project´ for managing traffic of the Valley presented to the National Planning Commission (NPC), the MoPPW has proposed various immediate and long-term measures to improve the worsening traffic woes in the Valley.
MoPPW officials said they worked out the initial recommendations based on the opinions of the concerned stakeholders and observations made by the technical team.
As per the latest government data, the number of vehicles in the capital has shot up to 444,700 in 2009 from 308,000 of 2005. Of them, motorcycles account for 74 percent of the total vehicles plying on the capital roads.
"The initial vision paper is a part of our long-term vision to solve the ever worsening transport management in the capital city," a high level source at the MoPPW told myrepublica.com. He further added that the new measures had been taken mainly considering the projection that the number of vehicles in the capital would almost double to 750,000 by 2021.
Under the short-term measures to fight public nuisance emanating from traffic jams, the report has recommended for a sharp rise in annual registration fees for all vehicles in Bagmati Zone. It has even suggested the government to encourage private and public institutions and organizations to vary their operation hours to spread peak traffic hours over longer periods.
To reduce traffic in the core city areas, MoPPW has also suggested for relocation of traffic generating activities to sites outside of the core areas. It has also suggested the government to reduce the visitor parking spaces in the core city areas. The ministry argues that such reduction will discourage the private vehicles from entering the core city areas.
The report also suggests the government to adopt strict requirements for obtaining driving license and enforce it effectively.
Under the long-term measure, the report proposes the government to categorize different city areas as ´congestion zones´ and levy fees to vehicles entering into these zones, except to the public transport vehicles, taxis, emergency vehicles, green vehicles and bicycles. Keeping in view the importance of public vehicles in reducing traffic congestion, the report also recommends the government to adopt different policy measures to encourage people to use public vehicles instead of private cars and motorcycles.
The report also suggests acquisition of land to construct new bus terminals at the periphery of the city for managing long distance vehicles and city buses. It has also pushed for the redevelopment of existing bus terminals with the involvement of private sector and arrangement of off-street bus stops.
Under the long-term vision, the report moots a feasibility study for constructing a light rail mass transit system. The Ministry is completing the final study report for the project by the end of April next year.
prabhakar@myrepublica.com
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