KATHMANDU, Aug 25 - The government has ratified the Bagmati Action Plan proposal submitted by the Bagmati Civilisation Integrated Development Committee (BCIDC) in coordination with the National Trust for Nature Conservation (NTNC), UN Habitat and United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). The government ratified the proposal on Aug. 11, and has accepted the five-year plan as the Valley’s river system development’s official framework document.

A press conference was organised on Monday announcing the Committee’s targets for the fiscal year 2066-67.
The Bagmati Action Plan is a five-year project that aims to clean the Bagmati river system and its various tributaries. It will be implemented gradually, and the funds will be arranged in coordination with the Finance Ministry, according to the committee.

The plan divides the valley into five different zones—Natural Conservation Core Zone (the mountain ranges around the Valley), Rural Zone (outermost areas of the Valley), Peri-urban Zone (areas lying between the rural and urban core of the Valley), Urban Zone (five municipalities of the Valley), and Downstream Zone (from Sundarighat to Katuwal Daha). The project is estimated to cost at least Rs. 14 billion.

The Committee’s targets for this fiscal year include drawing up conservation plans for the Bagmati’s source area and its tributaries, initiating construction of sewage treatment plants, and awareness and tree plantation programmes.
The plan also says that lands on 20 m either sides of the Bagmati, Nakkhu and Manohara rivers will not be allowed to be sold or the deeds transferred to anybody’s name. The Committee said that it has initiated the procedures to stop any construction within the boundaries of the three rivers.

A high-level committee will be formed to find an alternative to shift the squatters on the banks of the Bagmati to another location.

The Committee has identified certain problems in the implementation of the Plan, which include encroachment of the banks of the rivers, increasing transactions of land on the banks of the rivers, erratic power supply which hasn’t allowed the sewage treatment plants to function properly, and no provision for land for the proposed waste treatment plants.

The statement calls upon civil society and concerned stakeholders to participate in the Plan, and to not pollute the rivers further.

Source: Ekatipur.com

KATHMANDU, April 9 - Fed up with extended load-shedding hours? Don’t lose hope, for  there’s a ray of hope for the power-starved denizens of Kathmandu Valley.

A team of Swiss experts and Nepali engineers are teaming up and conducting a feasibility study to generate electricity from sunlight and connect it to the national grid. Since last January, the team has been carrying on work to set up a Photovoltaic (PV) cell system to do this.

The PV cell system consists of photovoltaic cells, PV modules and an inverter wired together, where photovoltaic cells convert sunlight into direct current (DC) electricity.

“India, China and many European countries are using this system as one of the major renewable energy sources,” said Prof. Jagan Nath Shrestha, Director of Center for Energy Studies (CES) under Tribhuvan University (TU).

Shrestha said the PV system can prove to be the best alternative renewable energy source for the country.

“We can generate five kilowatt per hour from the sun’s rays while most European countries can generate only three kilowatt per hour.

Despite this, most  European countries, including Switzerland and Germany, are using this system to generate electricity,” he said.

It costs Rs. 500, 000 to set up a PV cell system and generate one kilowatt electricity. Once the PV cell is installed, it works for 20 years, according to Shrestha.

CES had installed the PV cell system in 2003 at some places on a test basis and it has been operating round the clock, said Shrestha.

In the initial phase, the PV cell system would be installed in Kathmandu Valley as a pilot project, according to Domenico Chianese, Senior Researcher at the Institute for Applied Sustainability of the Environment, Switzerland.

Kathmandu Valley has transmission lines with 220 KV capacity and that will help transmit the power generated from the PV cell system that will be fed into the national grid, he said.

Meanwhile, he suggested that when real estate business and big building projects are booming so fast, power demand will naturally increase.

He added that the PV cell system would be an appropriate option for the valley denizens to get regular power supply. 

Demand for PV cell system is growing by 40 percent every year worldwide, according to him.