The Kathmandu Metropolitan City and the United Nations Park Development Committee (UNPDC) are at loggerheads over turning the squalid bank of Bagmati river into a park, the Rising Nepal said Friday.

According to Mayor Keshav Sthapit, KMC will not allow the riverbank to be turned into a park, the daily said.

“Any construction works on the riverbank will narrow down the river and restrict the flow of water,” he said.

“But the land (along the riverbank) is in the name of UNPDC,” the daily quoted Sagar Rijal, a senior section officer of the committee, as saying.

“Turning the area into a park will help clean up the river,” he said. “The plan also includes building a drainage system so that the city wastes are not discharged into the river and rehabilitating historical and cultural monuments along the river.”

The government, seven years ago, had decided to build a park along the northern bank of the Bagmati river from Sankhamul to the confluence of the Bagmati and Bishnumati rivers at Teku to mark the 50th anniversary of the UN, the daily said. nepalnews.com mr Jan 9