By A Staff Reporter
Kathmandu, Feb. 17: Bidya Sundar Shakya, Mayor of Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC), and Mohan Basnet, Mayor of Dakshinkali Municipality, jointly laid the foundation stone of an aesthetic entrance gate for the Dakshinkali Temple here on Tuesday.

This gate is part of the larger partnership project between the two cities, under which, work is underway in six other areas for the overall management of the Dakshinkali Temple.
The KMC has provided grant assistance of Rs. 12.04 million to fund the project. Of this, Rs. 8.6 million will be used to construct the gate.

After laying the foundation stone, Mayor Shakya said that unhealthy competition among the local governments of the Kathmandu Valley should not deprive its citizens of development. “For the valley to develop holistically, its cities need to work together,” he said.

Shakya further shared that KMC had been coordinating with all municipalities of the valley, extended support to two cities of Bhaktapur and had sought to establish sisterly relations with at least one city from each of the country’s province. “We have so far established sisterly relations with five cities across the country and have supported them in park construction,” he said.

Deputy Mayor of KMC Hari Prabha Shrestha said that KMC needed to work with neighbouring municipalities to deliver development and prosperity to the people. Giving the example of parks, she said, “We do not have land to build parks but our neighbouring cities do.”
She added, “We want to encourage KMC residents to travel to our neighbouring areas too.”