Kathmandu, July 4: The Development
Committee of the Legislature-Parliament Tuesday took a firm decision and
directed the government to restrict the movement of vehicles on the
35-kilometre Muglin-Narayangarh road at night even as the government remained
undecided on it.
It is a crucial road that connects
two national highways – Prithvi and Mahendra.
Citing recent human tragedies on
this stretch of the road, the committee asked the government, Home Ministry and
Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport to restrict vehicular
movement on the road at night during the monsoon.
“The government must implement
additional security measures on the Mugling-Narayangarh road, continue road
expansion works at night and relocate settlements that are at risk of
landslides to safer locations,” said Rabindra Adhikari, chairman of the
committee.
Currently, the road is blocked for
four hours in the afternoon everyday, triggering a long queue of passenger- and
goods-carrying vehicles at Narayangarh and Mugling.
It takes as many as six hours to
cross the 35-km stretch.
The problem continues unabated due
to the delay in the construction works.
The expansion of roads and
construction of bridges along the roads should have been completed by the end
of April this year, but there has been just 50 per cent progress so far.
“As we need to work and allow
vehicles to run simultaneously, the construction has been delayed,” said Gopal
Prasad Sigdel, director general of the Department of Roads (DoR).
According to him, a 3-km stretch is
critical as the geology is weak, and a lot of work must be done for slope
stabilisation.
Although the committee has directed
the government and its agencies, including the DoR, to complete the
construction by the end of this year, Sigdel said that the critical section
couldn’t be completed by December.
Only 5.5 km of the road has been
blacktopped so far, and there are less chances of blacktopping in the next
couple of months due to the rain.
Coordinator of the
Mugling-Narayangarh Road Expansion Project Sanjaya Kumar Shrestha said that 29
risk locations have been identified after conducting a geo-hazard survey.
“We have hired additional
international experts to support us in mapping the risk areas and expediting the
construction works. Major structural works have been completed but pavements are yet to be completed. Therefore,
there will be significant progress after the monsoon,” he said.
Adhikari directed the government to
use alternative roads like Bhandara (Chitwan)-Malekhu (Dhading) and
Shaktikhor-Jogimara.
Secretary at the MoPIT Devendra
Karki said that the ministry was concerned about the loss of lives on the
Mugling-Narayangarh road.
He also said that the project was a
priority of the government as well as the donor agencies.
“We are also planning to use
alternative roads,” he said.
The road expansion project has been
implemented under the Nepal-India Regional Trade and Transport Project under a
Rs. 3 billion aid package of the World Bank.
About 20,000 vehicles ply on this
section of the road everyday, and it accounts for about 90 per cent of Nepal’s
international trade traffic.
The road is being expanded to a double
lane of 9-11 metres.
No comments:
Post a Comment