The government is set to hire a consultant next week for preparing a detailed project report (DPR) of a modern satellite city armed with all basic facilities that it has planned to build on the outskirts of Kathmandu Valley.

The selection process in the final stage and a company will be handed the DPR contract by next week, said Bhaikaji Tiwari, deputy development commissioner at the Kathmandu Valley Development Authority  (KVDA), the government body mandated to develop the project. The KVDA has already been allotted Rs160 million for the DPR of the first phase of the programme which is expected to be completed in five years.

The authority has already designated 10,000 ropanis of land from Gundu to Balkot, Changu Narayan areas in Bhaktapur for developing a ‘smart city’. Similarly, another 10,000 ropanis of land in Lalitpur and Kathmandu that includes; Saibu, Bhaisepati to Khokana, Bungamati and a few areas in Shampi have been fixed to develop a ‘modern city’.

“We are in the final phase of handing over the contract to carry out the DPR. We have already short-listed a company among eight applicants,” said Tiwari. The KVDA, which had invited companies through a global tender, will select a winning bid after evaluating technical and financial proposals.

The winning bidder has to submit the pilot DPR within 15 months of completing a successful meeting with stakeholders, including land owners, government officials, municipalities and local bodies in the area.  

Similarly, the government is also in the process of developing a new town in 100,000 ropanis of land in the northern part of Bhaktapur and southern part of the main road that leads to Sankhu. The area can accommodate 700,000 people. “Of the seven applicants, five have already passed the pre-qualification technical round. One of them will be selected based on their financial proposal,” said Tiwari.

Satellite cities are smaller cities in the suburbs located near major cities or metropolitan areas with all kinds of facilities that a metropolis enjoy such as drinking water, transportation, education, drainage system, hospital, separate commercial centres, agricultural farm and free internet service.

The government has come up with this a new plan aimed at better managing the uncontrolled and haphazard settlement in the core area of the capital city by luring residents to move into a location on the outskirts with better facilities.

For this process, the government adopts a land-pooling mechanism, in which 5 percent of the total land will be dedicated to the construction of public infrastructure, including road, hospital, drainage and open spaces.