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The
Director
 It is a
strong claim he makes and one that could be
debatable, but one cannot deny that Sangachhe has
had long years of experience in the subject,
probably more than anybody else here. From November
1976 to August 1984, he was the Resident Architect
with the Lumbini Development Committee in Kapilvastu
District and he remembers, “When I first arrived
there, the Lumbini Development Project was in its
infantile stage and was totally devoid of any
infrastructure. My primary job involved the
acquisition of almost 1150 bighas of land for the
project.” One can imagine that it must surely have
been a monumental task of herculean proportions.
Sangachhe vindicates this, “Oh yes, the acquisition
required uprooting of hundreds of families who had
lived there for ages. In fact, I can lay no small
emphasis on the fact that from this project the
single most important thing I learnt was how to deal
with people.”
From October 1985 to January 1986, Sangachhe carried
out his duties as the Senior Architect of the
Lumbini Development Trust. Then, until December
1988, Sangachhe was appointed the Acting Project
Manager of the Trust. In his different capacities,
he was totally involved in the implementation of the
Lumbini Development Master Plan as well as in
infrastructure development for the Lumbini region as
a whole. Reminiscing on his twelve year tenure with
the project, he adds, “During the land acquisition
phase, I made sure that the displaced families were
compensated as fairly as possible and that each and
every item displaced, was remunerated. During the
infrastructure development phase, we planted almost
six hundred thousand saplings on the site.” No
wonder he claims that even today when he goes there,
he is greeted with respect by many. Sangachhe, in
his long career spanning three decades, has always
held positions of considerable responsibility, and
doubtless, his skill in dealing with people has come
in handy. Today, as the Director of an institution
having about 650 employees in its ranks, and with a
government budget of Rs. 1460 million (over Rs. 2000
million taking into account external financial
resources), Sangachhe is in a position to influence
big changes in the country’s infrastructural
capabilities.
However, it cannot be presumed to be an easy
undertaking. And while he reveals that the
government budget is almost twice that of the year
gone by (which was Rs. 820 million), he is not that
revealing when faced with the query of how much of
the given budget was actually spent last year. He
admits though, “Undoubtedly, our absorptive capacity
is as important as the budget allocated itself and
we will have to gear up more of our efforts towards
this aspect.” As proof of ongoing endeavours with
this goal in mind, Sangachhe discloses that the
DUDBC presently has many current projects in
different stages of design and completion all over
Nepal, including 220 health centre projects costing
Rs. 600 million.
Further,
he is planning to have a site office at all sites
where there is an upcoming project of at least Rs 10
million. He says, “I want to provide employment to
as many engineers and architects as is feasible and
their salaries can be arranged from our contingency
funds.” In his personal opinion, what this country
needs is the generation of more employment and
certainly, one can look forward to him using his
current position to do so o the best of his
capacity. At the same time (and this is where
personal opinions become so important when talking
about people in power) Sangachhe is of the view that
the Nepalese character which lays so much emphasis
on at least ensuring a roof over one’s head, has
thus made most Nepalese into home owners. Therefore,
it seems that the Director is not too convinced
about giving undue priority to the important issue
of providing low cost housing in at least the
rapidly growing urban areas. However, he does
mention, “We do have plans to provide low cost
housing to slum dwellers and we are doing this in
collaboration with UN Habitat.”
But, back to his area of specialty. Sangachhe says
that land development is the essential precursor to
land pooling, a hot topic at the moment, and he has
personally been instrumental in many land pooling
projects including those in Bhaktapur, Thimi,
Kirtipur, Dallu and Lubhu as well as on the banks of
the Bagmati river. He says, “Land development
essentially has three stages – one, the purchasing
of the land, two, the infrastructure development and
three, the dislodgment of people from the land. He
considers the land pooling efforts in Sainbu, Kamal
Binayak and Dallu to have been the most successful
ones. These, and various others, he was involved in
as the Senior Architect, and later, Trainer, at the
Central Regional Directorate (CRD) of the Department
of Housing & Urban Development (DUHD) from January
1989 to October 1993.
In the period from October 1993 to May 1995,
Sangachhe took on the responsibility of Town
Controller at the KVTDPIC, Patan, and from May 1995
to November 1998, as Town Controller of KVTDPIC,
Bhaktapur. In November 1998, he was made Acting
Member Secretary of the Kathmandu Valley Town
Development Committee (KVTDC), Kathmandu, wherein
his major duty was as Chief Urban Planner of the
Kathmandu Valley. So, there can be no doubt that
Sangachhe has accumulated enormous experience on the
subject of land development since this has been an
integral part of his duties in all of the above
mentioned jobs. Sangachhe also reveals that it was
he, as the Deputy Director of DUDBC (January 2004 to
June 2007), who put forward the idea of land
development for the Outer Ring Road Project.
Sangachhe’s published works include ‘Building Bye
Laws for Municipalities of Kathmandu Valley’, ‘Land
Pooling Manual’, ‘Land Pooling Projects As a Tool
for Financing’ as well as ‘Urban Infrastructure in
the Kathmandu Valley’.
Thus, Sangachhe, born on the 4th of December 1950 in
Bhaktapur, and now living in Rabi Bhawan with wife
Basanta, can justifiably be called a specialist in
the art of land development. Thus, Sangachhe, who
created history by becoming Board 7th in the SLC
examinations of 1965, even though nobody yet had
even got a first division from his school, Shri
Padma High School in Bhaktapur, can be justifiably
proud of his many achievements in this most tedious
of works. For, in truth, the displacement of long
time inhabitants from their homes requires great
tact and patience in dealing with the emotional as
well as the financial aspects of the issue. Thus,
Sangachhe, now in the chair as the Director General
of DUDBC since 7th June 2007, has experience on his
side as well as the confidence acquired from his
many successes and therefore one can look forward to
him garnering as many accomplishments in a wider
field of activity. One that will have to deal with a
multitude of new facets in the almost certain
drastic changes in the reconstruction of a New
Nepal.
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