EU Ambassador to Nepal Veronica Cody said that the action contributes to enhance the institutional capacity of the local government and communities to put the beautiful Bungmati town firmly on the radar screen of the tourism industry.

Visiting Bungmati, Lalitpur on 28 March to take stock of the progress of Sustainable Tourism and Green Growth for Heritage Settlements of the Kathmandu Valley (Parya-Sampada) project funded under SWITCH-Asia intervention of the European Union, she highlighted that the project more specifically aims in bringing more tourists, supporting the government's effort to celebrate "Visit Nepal 2020", a national tourism year committed to promote tourism industry and enhance local tourism as associated industries.

Ambassador Cody said that the project also aims to promote sustainable development, reducing poverty and contributing towards climate change mitigating, addressing current global challenges and opportunities in the light of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, more specifically SDGs 5, 8, 11 and 12, supporting the Government of Nepal in the achievement of SDGs in a timely manner.

Bungamati is selected as a prototype out of 52 heritage settlements in the Kathmandu Valley, which has a huge potential to showcase heritage conservation and sustainable tourism through green growth, sustainable reconstruction, entrepreneurship development of women and youth, investment and product innovation.

The project is implemented by UN-Habitat in partnership with Institute for Housing and Urban Development Studies, the Netherlands, Centre for Integrated Urban Development, SAARC Business Association of Home-based workers Nepal, and Lumanti. National Reconstruction Authority is joining hands to provide backstopping support for the reconstruction works at Bungamati.

This comprehensive initiative was kicked off in May 2018 in partnership with the Government of Nepal and Lalitpur Metropolitan City, and is expected to be completed by 2020.

This initiative is an effort to support the post-earthquake recovery process, to regain the lost momentum by restoring Bungmati as a pilot case to its previous stage by conservation and creating sustainable tourism opportunities, mainly to improve livelihood of the community by capitalizing on culture, local cuisines, festivals, rituals, music, local stories, etc. for the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (home stays, cafes, and handicraft shops, etc.), especially youths and women.