Nepal is observing the World Cities Day today with the national slogan for this year being ‘Town Planning in Federal Nepal’.

To mark the Day, the Nepali Ministry of Urban Development and related committees organized special programs yesterday.

According to the Ministry Spokesperson Shambhu KC, the Government of Nepal has planned to celebrate the World Cities Day and World Habitat Day together.

Through these programs, the Nepali Government aims at bringing together all the stakeholders for their active role in town planning across the central, provincial and local bodies of the country.

On the occasion, Director General at the Department of Urban Development and Construction Ramesh Prasad Singh informed about the construction of four satellite cities in Kathmandu city.

The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) declared October 31 of every year as the World Cities Day, on December 27, 2013.

The World Cities Day is followed by the Town Planning Day on November 8 every year.

Kathmandu Most Sensitive to Earthquakes

Improper urban planning and development made Kathmandu become one of the major cities most sensitive to earthquakes, globally.

To address this issue, the government is planning urban development in Kathmandu and across federal Nepal.

For Sustainable Urban living

Nations across the globe observe the World Cities Day as a call for planned and sustainable urban living and celebrate it with the theme: ‘Better City, Better Life’.

Whereas, the theme for World Cities Day 2017 is ‘Innovative Governance, Open Cities’ aimed at overall development and social inclusion.

More than half of the population, globally, reside in urban areas and Nepal is expected to witness around 62 percent urbanization post the reconstruction activity.

However, the records show most of the urban centers in Nepal, other than Kathmandu Valley, fall under ‘ruralpolis’ category, which includes rural areas legally classified as urban centers.

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