National Spatial Planning and Institutional Dynamics in Federal Nepal
The case of Urban Policy and National Urban Development Strategy

6th Spatial Planning Platform (SPP) Conference in Indonesia
6-8 November 2023
07 November 2023,
Balikpapan, Indonesia

Padma K MAINALEE
Joint Secretary, Ministry of Urban Development

National Spatial Planning and Institutional Dynamics in Federal Nepal
The case of Urban Policy and National Urban Development Strategy

1. National spatial planning and federal structure
2. Institutional dynamics at the Federal, Provincial, and the Local Level
3. Role to complement and conflict to national agenda of prosperous national urban system4. Issue of land as coordinating element for spatial planning
5. Institutions conceived at the provinces and at the local levels to contribute the spatial agenda

07 November 2023,
Balikpapan, Indonesia

Padma K MAINALEE
Joint Secretary, Ministry of Urban Development

1. National spatial planning and federal structure (network of settlement)
To China

V1

Federal Structure
V2

Settlements inFlat-Land
To India
Settlements networks- representative

3 tiers of governments (w/executive and legislative
authority) - Federal, 7
provincials, and 753 Local
governments
77 districts (admin. units)

Infrastructure Development-Road / transport: Ministry ofPhysical Infrastructure andTransport (F/P)-Land Administration: Ministryof Land (F/P) and also local
levels for administration-Urban Infrastructure: F/P/L-Social infrastructure: F - Sector
ministry; /P/Local

(Inter)national Interconnections as economic infrastructure

Population 2021

16,99,288

Existing Road

Population in 2001

Under Construction Road

UrbanPolicy
2007

Proposed Road

6,71,846

Kathmandu
Metropolis

4,14,141
Pokhara

1,56,412

1,66,674

2,80,502

2,14,663

2,10,593

67,447 1,47,741
Dhangadhi

57,535 1,38,951Nepalganj

75,384

1,38,742
ButwalBharatpur

Biratnagar
Birgunj 1,12,484
2,40,922

Balancingnationalurbanstructure

Recent Study on Defining Urban Population

Population in municipality is 66% regardless of its infrastructure condition
Planning Support from Central Government
Stand alone Municipality :Support to planning - IUDP, investment & action
Urban Cluster and region:
City / (Small Settlements in Network) or ‘urban region’
Corridor:
Defining urban region with one hour travel time
Urban system:
Area with sustainable exchange of goods and services

8 economic regionswith its commandarea in the country
6 in the flat land
2 (ktm and Pokhara
are in Hill – thevalley)
2 new provincial
capital (Surkhetand Dang) areexpected to benew.
5 provincial capitals
are in theseidentified economiccenters

Urban System: Settlement Distribution

Settlement systema) 50% plus in flat
region – teraib) 8 valleys –major
settlement areac) Urban region
created by themajor valleysd) Urban
economiccorridorsconnecting
Indian Borderand rail heade) Municipality as
center ofservice delivery

National Urban Development Strategy 2017
SUSTAINABILITY
URBAN
GOVERNANC
E
URBAN
URBAN
SYSTEMINFRASTR.

INCLUSIVITYURBANDEVELOPMENTURBAN
FINANCEURBANENVIRONMENT

GREEN(asset &technology)

RESILIENCE
URBAN
LAND

URBAN
ECONOMYURBANINVESTMENTEFFICIENCY(in servicedelivery)

NUDS approaches urban development as 4 thematic sectors and 4
mechanisms for implementation, with 5 guiding principles

Challenges for the policy: To devise a Urban Investment Strategies – the system approachRecent Urban Projects - Urban Corridor Initiatives• Urban Corridor Initiatives
2 Corridors - a) Biratnagar – Dharan; and b) Butwal
Lumbini are under procurement.
1 corridor – Birgunj Hetauda is under study (identifyingsectors for investment)
Recognizing a region for investments
to contribute to Economy.
Investment for maturing the urban
system in evolving region• Integrated Development Strategy to 2030 and 2050 with an
Implementation Plan• Corridor Capital Investment Plan with pipelines of potential
projects – that require due diligence through detailed
assessments of technical and financial feasibility

2. Institutional dynamics at the Federal, provincial, and the local levels
S. Description
No

Federal Govt

Provinces

Local Government

Remarks

1

National/regional
development
PlanNationalPlanning
Commission

Provincial
Planning
Commission

City Planning
Commission/Town
Development
Committee

Excluding for local Governments, the commissions are looking at
Macro economic indicator of the national or regional

2

Land use
institutions

FederalCouncil

Provincial
Council

Local level Council

Local level to finalize, but any revision has to be from the federal
Land Use Council headed by the Federal Ministry

3Road and
connectivity

Ministry

Prov. Ministry

Local Government

Responsibility is clear, but investment is unclear - three levels

4Urbaninfrastructure

Ministry

Prov. Ministry

Local Government

Road and drain, economic infrastructure, environmental
infrastructure, governance infrastructure etc

5Socialinfrastructure

Ministry(s)Prov. Ministry

Local Government

Thematical responsibility for health, education, employment andlabor, and for women, children and social affairs

6Land
Management

FederalMinistry

Transaction
feeLand tax

Federal ministry for norms and standards

7

Urban/ housing
Development

Ministry

Coordination

Implementation

It includes development of infrastructure and investment forservice delivery and improvement of infrastructure.

Challenges for the policy: To devise a Urban Investment Strategies

Federal Urban
PolicyObjectives 2023 (Prop.)
Prosperous national urban
systemAccess to resilient
infrastructure
Resource mobilization forurban development
Good urban governanceand intergovernmental coordination

Spatial Investment vision for objective of regional developmenta)b)c)

Investment in Urban System– that is in a region
Region – matured and evolving
Maturity and Evolution is measured only interconnection to market points of Northand South3. Role to complement and conflict to national agenda of prosperous nationalurban system.
To agree on national and regional
spatial vision – the urban systemin this caseTo agree on National and regional
spatial development Plan –through national development
plan (National Settlement Development

Implementation andmanagement support fromFederal GovernmentPlan, National Connectivity Plan – Road,
Rail and Yards)

Sub sets of National Vision at
Province and Local Level –Detailing of the National vision
for investment
Economic infrastructure
Social infrastructure
Higher order infra forservices and economic
Others

Implementation at Provinceand Local Level

Common platform

Prioritizing and investment commitment

4. Issue of land as coordinating element for spatial planningLand - the coordinator of all development activities
Infrastructure gap and need
Infrastructure Development
Social Infrastructure and its orderand command area
Economic infrastructuredevelopment
Settlement development – New
towns, (re)building, regeneration,
revitalization, cities and making itsmart
Infrastructure management
mechanism- Land Use plan
- Land Use Control- Land use
Revisions andUpdating- Development
coordination andcontrol

Knowing the hierarchicalorder of social andinfrastructural services
Investments and management
mechanism
Leadership in management(F/P/L)Land Use Act2019
Federal Land UseCouncil (revision)

Provincial Land UseCouncil

Settlements development (inNetwork)
Economic infrastructure (inregion and Province

Role of Land in Spatial PlanLocal (municipal)
Land Use Council(declaration)

6. Institutions conceived at the provinces and at the local levels to contribute thespatial agenda
Institutionsi) federal Levela)National Planning Commission(1, 4)b)National Urban Forum (1, 3, 4)c)Sectoral Ministries (3, 4, 5, 6)ii) Provincesd) Provincial Planning
Commission (2, 4, 5, 6)e) Sectoral Ministries (3,4,5,6)

iii) Local levels (all excl. 1)f) Municipality(ies)g) Municipal planningcommission or Town
Development Committees

Spatial agenda
Tools expected
1. Macro Indicator setting andoverall periodic plan (SDG,Climate change, Mortality etc)
2. Sub-setting of (1) to the Macroindicator
3. National Urban DevelopmentPlan
4. Land and settlement
Development policy andimplementation
5. Development Coordination
6. Investmentsa) Urban Development Actb) Utility corridor Actc) National, Provincial andLocal Plansd) Land use councils for Landuse implementatione) Land development – landpooling, Guided Landdevelopment and etcIndian Border
Postal roadconnecting allthrough Nepal

Nepal Rail In
process (only 80KM constructed)
East West Highway(visible 1)
Intervalley
connection Road
(Madan BhandaryRoad)Mid Hill highway(Visible 2)

Some thoughts and way forward through SPP platform

1. National Spatial Platform to contribute on economic infrastructuredevelopment
2. Investment sharing to infrastructure among governing units and partners
are key to the success of national or regional or the local level
development plans
3. Institutionalization of K-product is also a key element in which SPP
international platform could perform.

Thank You