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The Ring Road’s Green Belt, which is built and maintained by Ncell Axiata Limited as a part of its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiative, has been inaugurated on Tuesday. 

According to a press statement, the company has been taking up the responsibility for building and maintaining the greening of the Koteshwor-Kalanki ring road stretch in collaboration with the Department of Forest and Soil Conservation (DoFSC).

Amid a special function organised today, Mayor of Lalitpur Metropolitan City (LMC) Chiri Babu Maharjan, Director General of the Department of Foreign and Soil Conservation (DoFSC) Dr Rajendra KC, and CEO of Ncell Andy Chong inaugurated the green belt.

Addressing the inaugural programme, CEO Chong said: “We are delighted to contribute towards a healthy environment for people and community in line with the government’s objectives linked with Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and our Axiata Group’s aspiration of Net-zero carbon.”

“We are thankful to the DoFSC, Lalitpur Metropolitan City, Kathmandu Metropolitan City, respective wards, and other stakeholders. It has been a great example of public-private partnership and how we can collectively realize projects like these,” he added.

Under this project, Ncell has already completed landscaping and building the green belt area and has been maintaining greenery in the 10.2 km stretch.

Sharing his excitement about the project, Mayor Maharjan stated: “This is one of the beautiful projects that we have accomplished so I would like to thank Ncell on behalf of the Lalitpur Metropolitan City."

"As part of our vision to convert Lalitpur into a Smart City, after completing the installation of smart street lights in four routes, we are undertaking the installation of 1,400 units of light in the city. Our next step is to install smart lights in the 7.9 km stretch of Ring Road in Lalitpur,” added Maharjan.

Environment is also one of the CSR areas defined by the government in the Industrial Enterprise Rules 2019 for taking up social projects. 

Likewise, the DoFSC’s Director General KC stated: “It is a great achievement that we have been able to keep 100 percent plants of this stretch alive with some replacement against the commitment of 90 percent. We would like to thank Ncell for setting an example of private and public collaboration in the landscaping and beautification of the Ring Road. There are many other areas for such collaboration in the future.” 

Ncell will take care of the green belt until 2024.