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| Case Stories |
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Drainage Constructed with TLOs Participation:
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Drainage before Construction |
Improving Environmental Infrastructure Although the Town Development Committee (TDC) of Tribhuvannagar Municipality had a provision of a 2-meter wide drainage for its residents in its Master Plan, which was prepared in 1982-83, the proper drainage system never came to realization in the Municipality for more than two decades. As a result, it is causing serious environmental pollution and degradation around the municipality, which is directly affecting the health and well being of the residents. The problem of drainage propped up constantly in the municipality before but it was never given a priority due to many reasons, of which, lack of adequate funds and
disorganized community were major. It was only when RUPP came to Tribhuwannagar Municipality and the communities got organized into Tole/ Lane Organization (TLO), a grassroots level institutions. They then started preparing Tole Development Plans (TDP) through community participation. During the preparation of TDP, the residents of ward no. 10 have identified the issue of effective and proper drainage system as their major development need. There are nine different TLOs namely Rapti, Basant Bihar, Chaupo, Tripura, Nabha Pratibha, Jana Chetan, Lali Gurunsh, Sworgadwari & Sagarmatha who joined their hands together and collectively decided to undertake the drainage project as their priority concern and which will benefit the residents of entire ward. It was never so easy for the members of TLO to solve the drainage issue since lack of resources has always been a major drawback since twenty years. Therefore, it was very important that the TLOs should be facilitated in ways that could be possible to achieve their development goal on their own. In the course of community mobilization, the TLO members then came to know about the Reserve Fund which is managed by the Ministry of Local Development with the objectives to: support municipalities implement different types of infrastructure development and long term income generating projects; enhance cost sharing policy; and support to mitigate natural disasters. With the support and facilitation from Support Organization (SO) team members and the municipality, the TLOs prepared and sent the new drainage proposal to MLD for funding. The total project cost for the construction of new drainage system was estimated as Rs. 2,496,350.10. The effort of TLOs was highly commended by MLD and it has from its reserve fund, contributed Rs. 1,223,211.55, which is 49 % of the total cost for the construction of drain. But this was not enough to fulfill their dream, so they started pooling resources from the Municipality and from TLO members themselves. In the end, they were able to mobilize Rs. 300,000.00, 12% of the total cost from the municipality, Rs. 973,138.55 from the TLO in cash, which is 39% of total project cost.
A user group committee as a functional group was formed by TLOs to oversee the implementation activities of the project. The 11-member user committee formed with members of all 9 TLOs, included three women and eight men. It took 3 months to complete the construction of the drain and now the system runs 1,541-meters in total length with adequate flow of rain/waste water out of it. The drain has benefited 395 HHs in the Toles of ward 10. “During our meeting, we realized our greater need was that of a proper drainage system” says the Rupa Bohora of Sagarmatha TLO. Further she proudly adds, “This joint project is going to be our first great achievement and we are planning to develop effective mechanism to properly operate the drainage system in a sustainable manner.”
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Drainage after Construction |
“We, women have even helped in transporting the construction materials to the side. We contributed what we could, and now we are safe from mosquito and other problems.,” says Shila Subedi from Lali Guransh TLO. Today, the people of ward no. 10 are more than happy that they made their drains free of clogs and they are enjoying their improved and healthy surrounding. Mr. Hum Kanta Adhikari, Chairperson of Jana Chetana TLO adds, “When RUPP gave us an information about MLD reserve fund during TLO meetings, it indeed helped us to initiative and achieve what we wanted so badly”. Mr. Yanga Bahadur Budhathoki, Chairperson of Town Development Committee and outgoing Mayor of Tribhuvannagar Municipality recommended this as an example of best practice to central government and translate it to government policies for replication. The members of different TLOs hence, have proved that “strength lies in the collective effort and hence builds a confidence among themselves to achieve their goal”. This project is an exemplary of people’s participation in real sense, and it has truly demonstrated that funds of such types (RF) could be effectively mobilized through community participation coordinating/facilitating roles of municipality.
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