Natalie Rold

In Nepal’s gorgeous Kathmandu Valley, sand translates into social status. Paved With Good Intentions follows the track of the sand from illegal sand mining in the Bagmati River Basin to its transformation into cement to construct new middle-class housing developments in Pepsi-Cola Town Planning. A complex and conflicted relationship exists between eco-development, tourism, and the rights of the landless and refugee sand-miners living along the river. Striking imagery of the sacred Bagmati River and its degradation alternates with intimate views of the people who struggle to make a living in spite of a society that resents their very existence.