KATHMANDU - The Nepalese finance minister has announced a series of development activities for the Kathmandu Valley in his budget speech for the next fiscal year with a vision of developing it as the national capital of federal Nepal.

"An integrated development approach will be adopted for Kathmandu including construction of new infrastructures and continuity of development programs," Dr. Ram Sharan Mahat said on Tuesday evening while announcing the budget for fiscal year 2015- 16.

According to the plan, public transport vehicles with over 40 seats will only be given permission to operate inside the major routes of the valley. Budget has been allocated to study the probability of metro and monorail to alleviate the traffic pressure of the capital.

Meanwhile, the minister announced the construction of 400 public toilets, fly-over bridges in major road cross-sections, road repairs and extension along with underground and multi-storey vehicle parking centers around the valley.

As the capital has been facing water scarcity since long, budget has also been allocated to the Melamchi Water Supply Project. Drinking water from the project will be supplied to all households in the valley within the next two years, Mahat said.