Book launch:  Housing and Urban Development in Nepal by Dr. Jibgar Joshi

A program was organized at Xavier’s Academy, Lazimpat, Kathmandu, on December 28, 2013 to launch the third revised edition of Housing and Urban Development in Nepal authored by Dr. Jibgar Joshi. Apart from the launching of the book, the program deliberated on topical issues on the problems and challenges of housing and urban development in Nepal. The program started after tea and some light snacks.  It had rather an informal setting, which turned out to be rather productive, despite being a short program of little more than an hour.  The chief guest of the program Dr. Mohan Man Sainju, Former VC of National Planning Commission (NPC), released the book at the outset.

Guest of honor, Dr. Guna Nidhi Sharma, Former VC of NPC, was then invited to speak about the book. He presented a vivid account of the gloomy economic situation of Nepal and underscored the need for streamlining the housing and urban sector as advocated in the book.
He stressed on the need for balanced development and maintained that the increase in investments in modern housing have made the Nepalese economy less resilient as most inputs are imported and its impact on employment generation is not significant. His speech mostly focused on the difficult political environment for the planning bureaucrats and thinkers. He related the sad plight of the housing conditions with the deteriorating economy of the nation. His main focus was directed to the chaotic form of urbanization. He warned that urbanization if not managed as advocatged in the book would create a serious problem. He made it clear that the serious works like the present one should warn us to be aware of the problems due to the capital-driven activities especially in the Kathmandu Valley. He cited the problems and challenges of unplanned urban growth driven mainly by the global capital and resented on the rapid loss of agricultural land. He dwelt with the loss of resilience of the Nepalese economy and related it with the inability to cope with the urbanization. He congratulated the author for his contribution and stressed on the need for such serious efforts to make a change in the policy domain in Nepal.

The Master of Ceremony, Dr. Pramod Shrestha then invited Dr. Sunil Babu Shrestha, Former Member of NPC, to comment on the paper requesting him to be more focused on the book and not get diverted to the gloomy picture of Nepal that Dr. Sharma portrayed. He first summarized the contents of the book. Through his chapter-by-chapter analysis, he did an excellent job of exposing the book to generate interest among the participants during the Q/A session that followed. He made it easier for those present in the room to "know" what the book contains (or lacks) before reading it. He pointed out the strengths of the approaches in the book and the need for a wider dissemination of the ideas through its Nepali version to make a greater impact. He found the book to be highly readable and of topical interest and based on the most recent data and congratulated the author for such an excellent knowledge product. In terms of suggestions to improve the book, his shopping list included more detailed coverage on green technology and the recently growing portfolio of the housing finance; international best practices, senior citizen housing, cooperative investment on housing, and the issue of farmland loss. A single book cannot and does not necessarily cover everything. Others are free to build upon the existing work. His too much expectation from the book's future (and still unplanned) editions may be a result of his respect towards the author. He made a comprehensive review of the book.

Dr. Sainju then opened the floor for the Q/A session. It turned out to be a lively discussion on urban planning issues, such as the problem of drainage, river pollution, loss of cultural heritage, high-rise apartments, to name a few, not directly related with the book. Prof. Sudarshan Tiwari questioned if modern urban planning at the cost of heritage loss is inevitable. Prof Narendra Khanal questioned the logic behind spatial delineation of rural and urban areas and highlighted on the need for planning-led management.

Dr. Sainju, wrapping the discussions stressed on the need for being more critical on the issues raised in the book and some more efforts from the engineers’ community to deal with the problems. He lamented that planned urbanization efforts were weakened with the passing away of Dr. Harka Gurung. He recalled that even the data on the regional allocation of resources are no more available. Dr. Sainju gave a much more balanced comment. He praised the book and its author whom he personally knows to be a leading urban and regional planner. His criticism was that the book was not very critical. He was of the opinion that if some planning policies or interventions have gone wrong or failed, the book should explain why and how.

Dr. Pramod Shrestha then asked the author to speak a few words. Dr. Joshi began his short speech by expressing his gratitude to the gathering and thanked the organizers. He introduced the book through the three editions (1991, 1999, and 2013) and evaluated the planning environment during the three periods. He opined that the 1991 edition was based on rigorous planning exercises done during the late 1980s with the support of NPC. At that time, there was limited conflict of interest making it easier to plan. The environment for planning and rigorous studies at that time was more appropriate. He recalled his Humphrey Fellowship Year at MIT, which helped him to be sufficiently planning-oriented. But the problem then was how to implement the good ideas and intentions embodied in the plan and policies. This made him add a sub-title “analysis and design of participatory development process” in the 1999 edition. The implementation became more and more difficult with many imported ideas and political transition. Thus there was a natural bias for management as reflected in the subtitle of the second edition. But now this was no more relevant as the government itself is using its efforts and resources to sustain the new capital mode of development, which despite many adverse implications failed to thrive in our case. This reduced the relevance of the question of planning-led management as raised by Prof. Khanal, he explained. The preservation of historical towns, culture and all good things of the past got less priority as rightly pointed out by Prof. Tiwari. Dr. Joshi said that he has no intention of being critical to the recent changes given that the country is still under political transition.  However, he fully agreed with Dr. Sainju that it is high time that engineering and planning community should raise a bigger voice for putting the policy and planning on the right track as there is no point in subsidizing the capital-led development.

On behalf of the organizers, Mr. Kishore Jha delivering a vote of thanks expressed his deep appreciation to the chief guest, guest of honor and commentator. He thanked the author recalling that he read the second edition of the book during his study of urban planning at the Institute of Engineering.

The program, attended by eminent planners, economists, and academia, provided a forum on the current problems of Nepal and highlighted the need for making a voice on the need for balanced development both in terms of sector as well as space  through the streamlining of the housing and urban development sector.  The Govt of Nepal is in the process of strengthening urban governance in each and every municipality under LGCDP II with UNDP support. Because of the inclusion of 'urban governance', the book is relevant not only for urban planners but also for governance experts. This book deserves a wider platform.