Pokhara's Prithvichowk Bus Park: A Decades-Long Saga of Encroachment and Stalled Development

Pokhara. The Prithvichowk bus park and the management of squatters are the most discussed topics whenever elections approach. No political party leaves these issues out of their manifestos. However, regardless of which party wins, the construction of this bus park and the resolution of the squatter problem have never been achieved.

There are currently nearly 400 households of squatters on land that was acquired 50 years ago through compensation. The local government has even provided grants and recommendations for water, electricity, and roads in the squatter settlement. While studies for the construction of the bus park have been conducted repeatedly, the implementation of the reports has always been delayed.

Last year, the Pokhara Metropolitan City formed a study committee for the construction of the bus park. The committee submitted a report with several recommendations after studying the current state of the bus park, but it was not implemented. The latest report mentions that a large portion of the 205 ropanis of land has been encroached upon and recommends removing the encroachment to build a modern terminal.

The concept of the Prithvichowk bus park was envisioned back in 2032 BS when the master plan for Pokhara was created. Under the leadership of the then Zonal Commissioner Shankar Raj Pathak, land for the bus park as well as the international airport was acquired.

Under the leadership of the Pokhara Town Development Committee, 187 ropanis of land were acquired to build a regional bus park. Compensation for that land was distributed to the landowners in 2035 BS.

After the bus park was not built for a long time, the land gradually began to fill with squatters. The study report concluded that there are around 400 small and large houses and commercial structures on the land acquired for the bus park.

Pokhara's bus park, where thousands of passengers travel daily, lacks organized toilets, drinking water, and waiting areas. The lack of lighting at night has led to increased theft and insecurity. The land not yet occupied by squatters is filled with mud in the rainy season and dust in the winter. As a result, there is a serious impact on public health.

The report has presented three options to remove the houses and huts of squatters who have been living there for years. The first suggestion is to relocate the genuine squatters among those living there who do not have land elsewhere to other government land owned by the metropolis or to place them in an integrated settlement.

Secondly, those who have been living there for years can be safely displaced by providing them with certain relief or management expenses on humanitarian grounds. The third suggestion is to use legal force to clear the land occupied by individuals who have already received compensation or own houses and land elsewhere, and to demolish unauthorized structures using dozers.

Construction of the bus park will begin once the land is cleared

The committee has suggested dividing the bus park into four blocks and proceeding with construction once the land is cleared. The proposal is to immediately start parking and terminal work on the vacant and less disputed land in the first phase, and to build a digital terminal while managing the settlement in the second phase. The metropolis has also been advised to fill potholes, remove handcarts, repair toilets, and install CCTV cameras as a short-term measure. The land for this bus park is owned by the Pokhara Valley Town Development Committee.

The Metropolitan City and the Town Development Committee have tried many times to build the bus park. The study committee led by Lok Darshan Koirala concluded that the bus park can be built if there is political will.

How did the squatter situation arise?

When the old airport in Pokhara was upgraded, 74 business families living there were provided plots of land at a subsidized rate on the bus park land. Since then, officials of the Valley Town Development Committee have repeatedly turned the land into plots and sold them. Initially, the decision to sell the plots was made when Ashok Palikhe was the chairman. Later, when Kshetra Bahadur KC and Bishnu Prasad Bastola were chairmen, records show that 42 plots were sold at the rate of 300,000 and 32 plots at the rate of 180,000. Those who fell under the Prithvi Highway road standards and some old landowners were given land in the bus park in exchange.

Apart from that, more than 400 squatter families are currently living on the bus park land. 68 ropanis of land, said to be cracked along the banks of the Seti River, have been encroached upon in the name of squatters. More than 200 concrete houses have been built without maps all around the bus park. As the children of the squatters living there separate and build new huts, the vacant land is shrinking further. As a result, the 205 ropanis of land acquired in 2032 BS has now decreased to less than 65 ropanis.