Land Readjustment / Land Pooling Program in Nepal / Land Pooling Procedure in Nepal

Land pooling, more commonly known as land readjustment, is a technique that involves acquiring fragmented plots belonging to many different landholders, consolidating the various plots into one area, subdividing this area in an orderly and planned manner, and redistributing plots back to the original owners. Land pooling is an effective tool for combined farming, it is either called Jagga ekikaran or Chaklabandi in Nepali. The Urban Development Act 2045, Para 12 (2) states that land pooling can be carried out in any part of the town planning area with the consent of a minimum of 75 percent of the landowners. Even difficult and dispersed areas in the urban fringe can be served through land pooling.

Land pooling can also be initiated by local levels such as municipalities as per the Local Self-Governance Act, 1999. This project mainly concerns the use of GNSS technology (DGPS), android smartphone, and GIS software (QGIS, ArcGIS) for surveying, mapping, designing, and field layout of land parcels. This practice shows the implementation of land pooling in bringing modernization in agricultural practices in Nepal targeting a large group of indigenous farmers which mainly focuses on designing the wide agricultural plot accessible for irrigation and road services in the sloppy terrace farming regions.

A land pooling has many different functions, which may include:

Land pooling is seen as an attractive alternative because once land is developed, it is transferred back to the original landowner, and instead of cash compensation, those landowners benefit from infrastructure and higher land values.

It gives a nice chance for planned growth and development of the land and the infrastructure linkage and it also gives away the issues of land and densities.

Land (Survey) Act 2019, Para 11 (C) had provision for a survey of private, government, or common land, and Land (Survey) Bye-law 2058 Para 24, also has provision on the land pooling. Land related Act 2021, has the provision of the minimum ceiling of land, that a parcel could be subdivided i.e. in the case of urban land, the minimum ceiling is being 80 sq. m in hill and mountain areas and 85 sq. m in Terai areas. There is also a maximum ceiling of land which is no problem in land pooling projects. Building standard also fixed the 6 m minimum size of the frontage of the parcel. Generally, the contribution of the land pooling in Nepal is about 20% for roads, 3-5% for open spaces, 8- 10% for infrastructure development, and 4% for administrative costs and in total about 35-40% of the land. The individual landowner has to contribute 15-55% of parcels depending upon the position of land and infrastructure available. The plot depth and frontage ratio of the parcel will be 1.5-2.5 and the minimum frontage will be more than 6m. For the purpose of land pooling, the government has separate entities in the form of the Kathmandu Valley Development Authority, and Kathmandu Valley Town Development Committee. The user committees from landowners, and project implementation committee from the stakeholders will be also constituted for each project to mobilize landowners and other stakeholders. The concerned project conducts the study of the possible areas for the feasibility of land pooling by studying maps and documents, interacting with local officials and landowners, and site visits. The area is identified in terms of technical feasibility-suitability of the area for urban development and social feasibility- the acceptability of programs by landowners, agencies, and local politicians. If the area is feasible, then, the general meeting of stakeholders will request the concerned government agency to implement a land pooling program. During this period, nodal points of major infrastructures and tentative areas will be fixed by the stakeholders and district development committee for the land pooling program. After this period detailed planning is carried out which includes mapping, land valuation, socio-economic survey, readjustment, land use, and cost recovery.

Contextual Act, Rules, Guidelines, and Policy for Land Pooling

Acts, rules,s, and guidelines are very important parts of the land pooling process. These issues were also discussed and explored during the field meeting. Nepal Government has promulgated different acts, rules, guidelines, and policies at different times to make successful Town planning and land development procedure. Following Acts and guidelines were referred to and discussed in the field to give the awareness about prevailing laws of Nepal regarding land development.

Town Development Act,2045

Town development Act, 2045 can be taken as one of the prominent acts related to land development which authorizes the Town Development Committee (TDC) for the supply of urban land. Especially in the case of this project Integrated Development Plan, TDA authorizes TDC to be the core authorized body for planning and implementation of the project. It entitles the local body to carry out physical development in an integrated manner with reconstruction, expansion, and development of existing towns as well as to build new towns. It is provided with the policy of land.

Land Acquisition Act, 1977

This act speaks on understanding constraints related to land acquisition, and compensation. The present study on the development of identified LD sites and the adjacent lands through the concept of land pooling has to meet the requirements of this Act. For the commissioning of the Project through Land Pooling, there is a need to return the land to landowners in a proportionate and fair manner as well as to acquire land for infrastructure development and raise the administrative costs of the Project, for which a Land Contribution Policy need to be established.

Local Self Governance Act, 2056 (1999):

In order to develop Nepal as a welfare state, the government has established a number of fundamental directive principles and policies of the state espousing equitable distribution of resources, opportunities, and benefits to all citizens, removing social and economic inequalities across regions and social groups, maximum involvement of citizens in the governance process through decentralization (Paudyal, The Concept of Decentralized System of Governance in the Context of Balanced Development of Nepal, 2001). A decentralized system of governance is one of the fundamental policies to achieve those objectives outlined in the constitution. The Local Self-Governance Act 1999 has a basis for the development of a capable, responsive and accountable local self-governance system is itself an issue. However, looking at the experience of the past 15 years in general, it seems that more and more party-political rivalry and unhealthy competition. among all development, players have created confusion and a chaotic situation at the local level (Paudyal, The Concept of Decentralized System of Governance in the Context of Balanced Development of Nepal, 2001).
Some of the major issues that can be critically analyzed in the self-governance act and other acts related to decentralization can be grouped into three areas: Fundamental issues (Essence of the Act), Institutional Issues, and Implementation Issues.
provisioned broad-based organizational structure, devolution of authorities, special provision to promote disadvantaged communities, planned development process, and judicial authorities to local bodies, where whether the Act has provided enough legal.

Basic Guideline on Town Planning and Building construction 2072

This Basic guideline on Town planning and Building construction 2072 is the revised version after the devastating earthquake 2072. This recently published document gives the guideline regarding Land development and planning aspects. Minimum required of 30Ropani land to start the land development work. This Guideline indicates the basic requirement of 15% land for Road and 5% land for open space which is to be located completed inside the plot. It also indicates the minimum size of open space is not less than 80 sq. meters. Allowable maximum ground coverage of 60% and 70% for residential purposes and 50% max ground coverage for institution purposes with a maximum of 1.75 F.A.R. is set by the Guideline. The guideline restricted the settlement development on the land with more than a 30 ° slope. This document guides on the type of structure to be built in planning. Guidelines are enforced about the inventory of existing roads, public open spaces, and government land. The right of way and minimum width of 6m road is proposed in the guideline.

Land Pooling Procedures and Guidelines

There are a few documents published describing the land pooling procedures and guidelines like the manual by UDLE, guidelines by DUDBC, and introductory publication by DUDBC. All these reports have been reviewed and salient features and procedures of land pooling have been studied taking the study area in mind. The land pooling Manual defined the shape and size of the block plan which should be kept as 30m to 60 m in width and 150 m to 250 m in length in normal cases. Less than these size asks for more proportion of road. The guideline indicates that the plot size should not be less than 6m x13m in any case. The proportion of plot size should be 1:2.5 to 1:3. The recommendable size for the plot for the lower-income group is 80 sq.m to 125 sq.m for the medium-income group it is 150 sq.m to 250 sq.m and for the higher-income group, it is 400 sq.m to 500 sq.m The guideline insists that the minimum open space should be 300 sq.m Land Pooling Manual indicates that 15 % to 25 % land is generally required for the development of road network and 5% land for open space. 10% of the project cost is expected for the management cost. 7 % to 10% of developed plots can meet the development cost of road, drainage, and other services whereas 25 % to 35% of the contribution is required for the total project implementation cost.