According to a recent update, KMC and six city-based football clubs signed a MoU on September 11, 2018.

The six clubs include New Road Team (NRT), Himalayan Sherpa, Machhindra Youth Club, Sankata Club, Saraswati Youth Club and Manang Marshyangdi Club (MMC).

KMC informed that the grant is in line with its policy to invest in sports and recognize clubs that contributed to the national sports.

The grant is not limited to these clubs under Kathmandu territory, but will also cover others in the Kathmandu District.

Five-year agreement signed in the MoU include:

• Utilization of funds only for sports purpose
• All the sports kit under this grant should bear the logo of KMC
• All the clubs should follow all the national legal procedures along with timely audits and renewals
• KMC should be informed about all the undertaken sports activities
• Breaching the deal will lead to termination of agreement at any point

KMC’s grant is line with efforts to boost the country’s most-favorite sports football, which is currently preparing for its first football league in September 2018.

ANFA officials told me that the ‘A’ division clubs could not survive just by fielding local players. So, we decided to provide them grant.  – Bidhya Sundar Shakya KMC Mayor 

The grant will definitely boost the development of Nepali football, which is going to have its first football league, stalled since last four years, from September 29. There will be crisis of players for the national team until there won’t be strong league in the country. In hope of producing as many players as possible, we have planned three structure of leagues: National, Martyrs Memorial and ANFA President’s League – Karma Tsering Sherpa, President, All Nepal Football Association (ANFA)

According to Sherpa, Nepal will have nine different national teams including age-group and women teams, starting from 2019.

Sherpa further informed that the Club Licensing provision brought by FIFA and Asian Football Confederation (AFC) would also formally start from the season.

Adding further, Shakya said this grant was just the beginning and may increase going forward. In this regard, the KMC Chief urged the clubs to target the league title for gaining more greater support in future.

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One such is the destruction of some of the country’s centuries-old heritage structures that hold high significance locally and globally.

Though some of them are back to life as part of the government’s earthquake reconstruction activity, some of them are still facing lack of proper support.

Here are two of them, on similar lines, reported recently to have been facing similar situation!

Hari Bhawan & Ranipokhari
According to a recent update, the Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC) is reportedly planning to demolish the capital’s historical Haribhawan in Sundhara in a week’s time.

The department is planning for Haribhawan’s demolition and reconstruction of Ranipokhari in Ratnapark at once, says Nawaraj Dhakal, KMC Assistant Spokesperson.

In this regard, the department has already called for project quotation to expedite the reconstruction process.

The decision has been pending since a year as the country’s Department of Archeology (DoA) stopped the move.

Haribhawan has a historical background of more than 100 years and has been used for KMC’s operations since 2003.

Whereas, Ranipokhari holds a historical record of more than 400 years and has been pending for reconstruction after public protested over usage of modern material in the rebuild activity.

Bagh Durbar On the Other Side
Meanwhile, another iconic heritage site Baghdurbar is also facing a similar issue.

As per latest news, Kathmandu-based locals, culture experts and heritage conservationists have raised a serious opposition to DoA’s approval to demolish Baghdurbar.

Against KMC’s move towards call of tenders for demolishment, the city-based stakeholders have reportedly called for a protest outside the iconic site.

“We want to prevent this wrongful act. Baghdurbar is part of our heritage. A study has already concluded that the building could be retrofitted, but the metropolis and the archaeology department are after demolishing it,” says Chanda Rana, Coordinator of Save Heritage Campaign.

DoA took a decision to retrofit and restore the site after a two-year-long technical assessment post the 2015 earthquake that damaged the site.

KMC officials opine that the retrofitting costs are higher compared to that of the demolishing and rebuilding the
age-old structure from scratch.

The National Society for Technology denies the argument as its senior technical adviser says that the retrofitting needs only 35 percent of the total amount required for new construction.

Architect and Former Dean of the Institute of Engineering of Pulchowk Sudarshan Raj Tiwari also feels the same.

“If Gaddi Baithak of Basantapur can be restored through retrofitting, Baghdurbar can also be restored in a similar manner. After all, Baghdurbar had suffered less damage than Gaddi Baithak,” adds Tiwari.

Rana makes it very clear that they will not let the metropolis demolish the building. “We have already saved around three dozen quake-damaged palaces from getting demolished and we will be successful in saving Baghdurbar as well,” he adds.

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