What makes, a big and difficult policy enforcement, possible? A success story from Kathmandu Metropolitan City

Kathmandu Metropolitan city (KMC) is the number one crowded city of Nepal experiencing severe vehicular traffic congestion. Hundreds of private property-owners residing along the city-road have illegally built building structures on the road right-of-way (ROW). Such illegal structures have been a big obstacle to widen city roads and ease traffic congestion in KMC. Several attempts to remove buildings from the ROW did not succeed in the past. However, unexpectedly in 2012, the planning authorities were able to remove hundreds of illegal developments from 200 km of the KMC's ROW, and widen many narrow roads. Through a case study of the KMC's ROW restoration operation, this paper explores what was it that made the road widening mission a great success in 2012. What lessons could we learn from these experiences for enforcing large and difficult policies? This research found five factors that were important for a successful correction of citywide illegal development. They were: willpower of the head of government, committed implementation manager, inter-agency coordination, wider public support and legitimacy of the problem under investigation.