THESIS ABSTRACT

Abstract

Land pooling is self-financing model of land development in which sales plot generated by land readjustment are sold by government to recover the cost of infrastructure development and different administrative expenses of project. However, despite its growing significance, land pooling projects in the Kathmandu Valley continue to experience significant delays, which adversely affect project performance, increase costs, and weaken stakeholder trust. The objective of this study is to find the major factors contributing to delays in land pooling projects, and its effects and explores possible mitigation strategies to improve their timely execution. The study focuses on the land pooling projects of Kathmandu valley specially implemented under Kathmandu Valley Development Authority (KVDA). Dibyashwori land pooling project of Bhaktapur district, Bagmatinagar land pooling project of Kathmandu, Velpa Hattiban land pooling project of Lalitpur district were taken as project area for this study. The research adopts a quantitative approach supported by qualitative insights. Data were collected through a questionnaire survey administered to 70 respondents representing employers, consultants, contractors, and landowners. A total of 75 delay factors were categorized into eight groups. After collecting the sample data, analysis of data was done through Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) in order to generate meaningful interpretation. The Relative Importance Index (RII) method was used to rank causes and effects of delay, while one-way ANOVA was applied to examine differences in stakeholder perceptions. The reliability of data has been tested by using Cronbach's alpha test. Thematic analysis was done for responses obtained from key informant interview. The findings reveal that the major factor of delay include insufficient seed money, improper record keeping of cadastral and ownership of land parcel, delay in meeting as well as decision of project management sub-committee, conflict of interest of user committee members due to personal benefit and overlapping jurisdictions and poor coordination with government agencies. The major effects of delay were identified as time and cost overruns, long-term land locking and restrictions on land transactions, negative social impacts on future land pooling projects, declining stakeholder trust and development of legal complications on project. The ANOVA results indicate no significant difference in opinions among stakeholder groups regarding the causes and effects of delays except land owner related causes which might be due to land owner denied to accept the delay of land pooling projects due to them. Based on the result of thematic analysis, the study recommends provision of government subsidy, utilization of liquidity of different institutions, enhancing land cadastral land record by digitization of data, strengthening legal and policy frameworks, legally defined duties and responsibilities of user committee, establishing effective grievance handling mechanisms, and integrating law related to land and urban planning to achieve timely and sustainable land pooling project implementation.

Keywords

Project delay, Land Readjustment, Urban development, Kathmandu valley, Thematic Analysis.