They called it, astoundingly enough, BRIC. Not the other Bric, they'd tell anyone who bothered to ask instead of just rolling their eyes and moving on, the one with industrializing countries, this one stands for Bagmati RI Civilization. Some brave soul had dared ask why they hadn't called it Barc or BRC or whatever it was besides the misleading acronym. They said that Bric sounded more familiar. Of course.
It began as a loose umbrella of non-profits involved in the rehabilitation of the river. They coalesced around rebuilding river banks and coordinating with government and companies to establish infrastructure. The real estate waalaas wanted a skin in the game, so did the mall-wallas, the water-taxi-waalas, the app-waalas, the cyclists, and so on and on and on. The loose umbrella turned more and more into a unified organization with sister teams for coordinating with different stakeholders. After twelve years of working as a unified group they were separate organizations only in name.
The bicyclists were the first ones to show real interest and commitment to the project. They offered hands-on physical labor twice a week, a hundred people at a time, if provided with proper tools and basic sustenance. This was an opportunity for a media moment when it was difficult to convince anyone of the massive public interest in the project. The three engineering colleges and two architecture schools provided design for free, construction companies pooled resources to subsidize the construction materials -- as long as they had a chance at the bid once the government jumped in -- and four trained masons and carpenters were paid for full-time job to coordinate the volunteers.
Over two Spring months and ten sessions, they build up five kilometers of crowd-sourced bike path. It wasn't the most well-constructed, the understanding was to tear it down once real investors plopped down real money, but it was something, and it connected Baneshwar with Thapathali with a route that was only for bicycles and pedestrians. No motorbikes around. Wooden bollards were planted every so few meters and signs warning of dire consequences, to scare away the motorcyclists. After three months of very strict enforcement by the DIG for Valley Traffic Police, and massive public campaign with the support of the three major media houses, the bike paths were mostly bike-free. You could bike to Thapathali from Naya Baneshwar faster than you could drive or motorbike the same. It was a revelation.
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