Thanks to these complexes--where almost any product that a shopper desires can be bought in premises that boast state-of-the-art facilities and amenities--shopping in the valley has become a delightful affair.
To purchase their preferred brands of products, Kathmanduites now no longer need to wiggle through traffic-congested streets to get to their preferred shops, scattered in different corners of the city. “Many of the popular shops of yesterday have conveniently assembled themselves in complexes like UWTC and Share Market Complex, both of which were built under the BOOT scheme,” says Sukunta Lal Hirachan, builder and operator of United World Trade Center (UWTC).
The conveniences provided keep piling up too. For example, since ATMs and banks are built into the complexes, shoppers today do not have to carry hunks of cash. Furthermore, with shopping complexes offering so much, these complexes have become whole markets unto themselves--their shops peddle everything from daily consumable goods, care and wear items, and travel accessories to financial and logistics services. These days even barber shops and restaurants clubbed with the other shops, all under one roof.
The developers, who are as giddy as the shoppers, know what has made all this possible. “In this space-constrained city, empty land is either owned by the government or public institutions. Hence, without BOOT, a majority of the large scale complexes that have enhanced shopping experiences would have never materialized,” says Ichha Bahadur Wagle, a commercial complex developer.
Kathmandu´s BOOT schemes first saw the light of day about a decade ago. The first complex to be built under a BOOT scheme was the Ranamukteshwor Business Complex, popularly known as RB Complex, in New Road.
This leading crowd-puller, which offers products from leading Asian manufacturing countries, such as China, Korea, Japan, India, Thailand, and also from European and the United States, was built by RB Complex Private Ltd on land leased by Guthi Samsthan.
The second major complex built under the BOOT scheme was the Share Market Complex, in Putalisadak. The third one was Lalitpur Bishalbazar, which could not bring in the crowds the way that its two forerunners have. The other notable BOOT venture is the Kantipur Mall, which serves the needs of the lower-middle income groups; it too was built on leased land--from the Kathmandu Metropolitan City office.
But the landmark BOOT venture is undoubtedly UWTC, the fifth up in the lineup among these mega projects. It´s also the biggest shopping complex in the country. Built on about 0.56 hectares of land leased out by Tribhuvan University for 32 years, this six-storey building houses hundreds of outlets in its 61,538 square meters of usable space. For that space alone, the builder pays Rs 7.2 million a year to the university.
To go with its prime size, UWTC it offers the most prime of amenities: Four lifts, six escalators, 24-hour power supply with generator backup, a fire-fighting system, accidental insurance provided for both shoppers and shopkeepers, an underground parking lot that accommodates about one thousand vehicles, and 65 CCTVs for security, among others.
The success of BOOT ventures has been such that close cousins, who follow the basic BOOT blueprint but not the clients targeted, are also being spawned. So far, Kathmandu´s complexes have catered to the needs of the consumers, but an upcoming venture-- Trade Tower of Nepal (TTN), being built on more than 11 ropanis of land belonging to Nepal Food Corporation (NFC) in Thapathali--will cater to corporate clients. TTN has been designed to specifically meet the spatial and logistics needs of corporate offices.
“Unlike the past BOOT ventures, ours will house offices of banks, hydropower companies, non-governmental organizations and other service-sector players,” says engineer Shiva Hari Dangal of Makalu Developers, the company that´s developing the complex.
TTN will be an eight-storey complex with 25,000 square feet of usable space on each floor and it will offer to its clients a common corporate secretariat, CCTV coverage, broadband internet, fiber optic linked telephones and common meeting spaces.
The developer is investing Rs 400 million for the construction and is paying NFC Rs one million a month for its lease. TNN is planning to open its space for booking in about six months, and the offices can be leased for up to 30 years.
For years on end, the people in Kathmandu have been told that the city would be turned into a Singapore. Singapore, the city certainly hasn´t become, but with BOOT schemes leading the way, at least the people in Kathmandu are shopping like Singaporeans do, and some may soon be working out of the kinds of offices that are there in Singapore.
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