Analyzing Urban Expansion and Spatial Growth Patterns in Barahathawa Municipality of Central Tarai Region, Nepal

The rapid transformation of rural settlements into municipalities in Nepal has brought significant changes in land use, and urban expansion and growth patterns mostly through the conversion of agricultural land into the built-up area. The issue is studied taking a case of the rapidly growing town, Barahathawa Municipality of Tarai Region of Sarlahi District. After the declaration of the municipality, several new roads have been opened and upgraded; and the municipality is well-connected to the national transportation network. After promulgated the Constitution of Nepal 2015 and functioning the elected local body, the municipality budget has been increased significantly as a result of increasing municipal investment in socio-economic and physical infrastructure development and environmental protection which has attracted people, goods, and services creating the zone of influence on the municipality. One of the changes found in the municipality is the increasing built-up area and expansion of urban growth through the decreasing agricultural land. Urban growth has been observed taking place around the Barahathawa Bazaar and main roadsides. The built-up area in Barahathawa municipality has remarkably increased by 183percent with the decrease of shrub and agricultural land within 10 years. Implications of such spatial and temporal dynamics have been a core issue of urban planning in most of the newly declared municipalities in Nepal