Bridging Nepal's Connectivity Gaps

 More Tunnels, More Bridges

The Kathmandu Terai Expressway shortens the journey from Kathmandu to Nijgadh by 193 km and saves almost five hours journey in an normal traffic scenario. This Asian-standard highway facilitates better connectivity of Kathmandu to the southern plains, including the capital city of Bagmati Province, Hetaunda and one of the industrial centres of the country, Birgunj. After the completion of the Expressway, people can travel Hetaunda to Kathmandu in about two hours in a confortable and comparatively risk-free manner. Express travel through the fast track road will be made possible by six tunnels of more than 10 km distance, and about 89 bridges that would make a combined length of 8 km.

There are multiple connectivity options between Kathmandu and Hetaunda but none is shorter than three hours. Meanwhile, those entire road connections were severed by the floods and landslides caused by the torrential rain in the last week of September this year. The disaster claimed the lives of 239 people while 18 individuals are still missing. Many of those lives were lost along the road, multiple vehicles were buried under the debris or landslides – three vehicles buried in the mudslide in Jhyaple Khola of Dhading district that claimed the lives of 35 individuals is one example. According to the statistics maintained by the Traffic Police, about 2,500 people lose their lives in road accidents across the country every year. Narrow road with steep elevation and sharp bends is one of primary causes of those accidents.

This analogy stresses the need of better road infrastructure facilitated by bridges and tunnels. Considered as the first tunnel project on a national highway, the Nagdhunga Tunnel shortens the road journey by 7.5 KM but might reduce the travel time by more than half an hour. While countries having similar topography to Nepal have long been in tunnel and bridge construction for the road and railway projects, this country is lagging owning to the severe dearth of financial resources, technical know-how and vision for the infrastructure development.

Mountain roads with sharp bends not only increase the risk of accident but also delay the travel and transportation. It has negatively impacted the tourism industry as tourists are apprehensive of visiting the destinations out of the Kathmandu Valley. A Croatian tourist was so scared during the Kathmandu-Pokhara travel last month that he would consider twice before making a road journey in Nepal. Tunnels can address this fear and uncertainty.

Bad roads create woes during the festivals. About 1.8 million people are traveling to their homes from the Kathmandu Valley alone. A large number of people also travel to their houses in villages or towns from the provincial capitals and industrial cities.

 

Solutions to the maladies

Tunnel and bridges face fewer disturbances from the floods and landslides, and immensely helps in mobilising the rescue teams and relief materials during hard times. They also create better connectivity in the hill and mountain areas where infrastructure development is costly and challenging and their management demands a huge amount of money. For example, the government has spent more than Rs. 650 million in the maintenance of Karnali Highway in the past two years. There are about 500 landslides along the 145-km Kathmandu-Narayangadh road.

This long journey has increased the cost of trade, caused inflation in the domestic market and decreased the competitiveness of Nepali goods in the international market. Obstruction-free transportation could be a great boon for the producers and traders, especially the farmers, of perishable items like vegetables, fruits and dairy items. It also reduces the imports of petroleum fuel, vehicles and their spare parts, that together make the largest import of the country, and can have positive impact on the trade balance and foreign exchange reserves. Reduction in the cost of trade has long been a primary agenda of the government but for the past several decades only lip-service has been paid to this notion. This inertia and indifference in the part of the government and infrastructure-agencies is exhibited in the national highways and other transportation infrastructures.

Tunneling and bridging the roads can be instrumental in the preservation of heritage sites and agricultural land along the road. There will be fewer disturbances to the vulnerable topography and young mountains like Chure hills. As they are better engineered for safety and durability, there are fewer chances of landslides and other damages. About 100-150 metre bridge in Jhyaple Khola, instead of a sharp bend above a narrow culvert, would have averted the recent disaster, and there would have been less uncertainty in travel and transportation if similar strategy were adopted in such critical locations.

If the roads and railways are reliable, people prefer public transport over their personal passenger vehicles. This means less emission of carbon dioxide and environmental pollution which will result in better public health and increased productivity of people.

 

Still a long journey

Development of tunnels and large motorable bridges is easier said than done particularly in a country that has hills and mountains in 83 per cent of its land. While the very hills and mountains create the need for the tunnels and large bridges, their topography create complexity and pose challenges in the development work. Likewise, ecological challenges are paramount especially in the Chure region. They demand sound planning and efficient execution of the development projects bet that a tunnel or a road on the surface.

Nepal still doesn't have an efficient institutional setup for the tunnels although a division is created for the bridges at the Department of Roads. While the Nagdhunga tunnel is developed by a Japanese agency, construction of the expressway is delayed also because of the delay in the tender process of tunnel as neither the Nepal Army nor any other national agency was competent in conducting the feasibility study or the detailed project report or constructing them.

Technology transfer is another area of concern. There are a couple of instances within Nepal – Melamchi Water Supply Project and Babai Irrigation Project – that better technology reduces the cost of development and expedites the construction. With the use of Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM), Babai Irrigation Project completed the tunnel construction ahead of the stipulated time while the MWSP witnessed a sluggish progress in absence of it.

Similarly, lack of understanding and will-power in the government and concerned agencies is another obstacle in this regard. While a section of the bureaucracy and policy makers make fun of the visions to create large tunnels and bridges, another section discourages such visions and planning citing the shortages of funds, technology and human resources. It is also true that the country has a shortage of skilled engineers and geologists to move ahead with the tunneling and construction of large bridges. Hence, the government should immediately formulate a long-term policy and short-term development plan for the construction of tunnels and bridges. International Development Partners and other donors should be asked to channelise their financial support to this very need of national development. 

 Published in The Rising Nepal daily's Dashain supplement on 8 October 2024. 

NPC chair inspects fast-track project

Kathmandu, Oct. 5

People affected by the Kathmandu-Terai Fast Track project in Lalitpur district have demanded the vice chairman of the National Planning Commission (NPC) Prof. Dr. Pushpa Raj Kadel to facilitate in the development of the road with proper address to the compensation dispute, heritage preservation and integrated development.

Dr. Kadel inspected the Fast Track on Sunday.

A team led by Dr. Kandel had a field inspection of the Fast Track’s Bhainsepati, Khokaha, Sikali Chaur, Bungmati and Makhkhu Benshi section. He was accompanied by Infrastructure Development Expert to the Prime Minister Gajendra Thapaliya and chief of NPC’s Monitoring Division Dr. Bashudev Sharma.

According to the NPC, he had gone there to observe and study the challenges the project was facing in its development. He interacted with Lalitpur District Coordination Committee’s vice-chair Binesh Maharjan and local people regarding the disputes and problems.

Dr. Kandel said that he inspected the project and interacted with the locals with the aim of resolving the disputes between the project developer Nepal Army and the affected people. “This exercise will help us to resolve the problems faced by the project,” he said.

There is a dispute between the two regarding the compensation to the land acquisition, and preserving the heritages in Sikali, Khokana and Bagmati.

The Prime Minister’s Office is organising a review meeting for the national pride projects and the VC had reached the project site in the middle of the discussions.

He said that if the problems were not addressed at the earliest, it would bruise the state coffers and the project would be delayed.

Nepali Army has completed the construction of service track and permanent base camp to use in the project development, clearing the trees, distributing compensation and relief and doing other social works.

The project was handed over to the Nepali Army about three years ago through a Cabinet decision. It has another two and a half years to complete the project.

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 6 October 2020. 

Widening of Jorpati-Sundarijal road starts

Kathmandu, Dec. 7

Gokarneshwor Municipality has started the road-widening at the Jorpati-Sundarijal section. Under the first phase, work has started to remove the houses and other structures and trees by the roadside.

The municipality has initiated the road-widening work following the decision of the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport (MoPIT) to clear roadside of various structures within a month and complete the blacktopping by the end of current fiscal year 2019/20.

Ministry for Physical Infrastructure and Transport Basanta Kumar Nembang had recently called a meeting of the stakeholders which had decided for the same.

The meeting held at the ministry had made five decisions including removing electricity poles and managing telephone wires.

Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) and Nepal Telecom have taken the responsibility to remove the poles and manage wires.

The seven-km long road will be 22-metre wide.

The road-section is in a mess for a long time. There are potholes on the road and some areas are inundated which has discouraged the tourists to visit Sundarijal.

Locals expressed happiness over the beginning of the road-widening works and wished that it would complete within the deadline.

The road was contracted out about three years ago and should have been completed the by the end of the last fiscal year. But, the negligence of the contractor has delayed the work resulting multiple obstruction to vehicular movement in protest.

The meeting at the ministry was attended by lawmaker of the area Krishna Rai, member of the State 3 Assembly Rameshwar Phuyal, Executive Director of the NEA Kulman Ghishing, Mayor of Gokarneshwor Municipality Santosh Chalise and representatives of Kathmandu Valley Road Improvement Project and Nepal Telecom.

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 8 December 2019. 

WB and UN stress on the urgency of road safety

Kathmandu, Sept. 26

World Bank Vice President for the South Asia Region Hartwig Schafer and UN Secretary General’s Special Envoy for Road Safety Jean Todt underscored the urgency of action on road safety to save lives and boost economic growth.

During their visit to Nepal, Schafer and Todt met with Minister for Physical Infrastructure and Transport Raghubir Mahaseth, and senior officials at the Ministry and Road Safety Council.

The meetings deliberated on Nepal’s road safety agenda and important progress being made with the drafting of the Road Safety Bill, formation of the National Road Safety Council, and updating of the Road Safety Action Plan.

 A meeting with civil society organisations was also held with fruitful discussion on bicycle and women’s road safety, said the WB.

“We are encouraged by the commitment of Nepal to address road safety issues,” stated Schafer. “It is important to expedite the enactment of the Road Safety Bill and fully empower the Nepal Road Safety Council, so it is adequately staffed and sustainably financed.”

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO) global estimates, every year about 1.35 million people lose their lives on the road, and millions more sustain serious injuries that often result in permanent disability.

Nepal has one of the highest rates of road deaths in the region, with roughly 16 road deaths per 100,000 people a year. As per WHO 2015 estimates, road traffic accidents in Nepal also result in an annual cost of 0.8 per cent of GDP.

“The geographic landscape of Nepal makes its challenges special. However, we know the basic foundations that need to be in place to effectively manage road safety everywhere: strong governance, safe infrastructure, good road user behaviour, safe vehicles, and effective post-crash care,” stated Jean Todt. “I encourage Nepal to join and fully implement the key UN road safety conventions, which help countries address the major causes of road crashes through a strong regulatory framework.”

Nepal has pledged its commitment to the Sustainable Development Goals, including the ambitious target of halving the number of global deaths and injuries caused by road crashes. While Nepal firms up its legislation and institutional frameworks to ensure road safety, implementation will be key to bring to fruition the country’s commitment towards safe, affordable, accessible, and sustainable transport systems.

“It is only through concrete actions that we will achieve our Sustainable Development Goal of significantly reducing the number of road fatalities. I look forward to our further joint efforts,” added Todt.

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 27 September 2019. 

Hazama signs contract to develop Nagdhunga Tunnel

Kathmandu, Sept. 23

Japanese company Hazama Ando Corporation signed contract with the Department of Roads for the Nagdhunga Tunnel Construction Project on Monday.

The company will complete the 2.69-km long double-lane road tunnel within 42 months from the project commencement date. 

Bid for the project was published in August last year and Hazama was selected from the 43 national and international bidders showing their interest in constructing the tunnel. 

In 2016, the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) had agreed to provide Rs. 17 billion loan to Nepal with 0.01 per cent interest for 40 years for the project. The government will bear Rs. 6.3 billion for land acquisition and other administrative work. 

The detail design of the project was completed in April 2018. 

The project will have 2.3 km long road at the eastern side, 565 metre long at the western side, one intersection, one interchange on Tribhuvan Highway, seven bridges and 11 box culverts. 

It will also have toll-gate facilities, traffic monitoring/control and maintenance office buildings, roadside service station and transmission line.

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 24 September 2019. 

Funding gap gives jolts to Nepali road sector

Kathmandu, Sept. 14

Nepali road sector has suffered from chronic under-investment, creating a high investment backlog, the World Bank concluded in its recent report on ‘Nepal Infrastructure Sector Assessment’. 


“The annual funding allocation for the strategic road network maintenance in the past five years has been, on average, 60 per cent short of the annual requirement,” said the multilateral donor. 


The funding gap in the road sector between 2014 and 2018 was 68 per cent. According to the Department of Roads (DoR), the funding requirement for the road maintenance was Rs. 16.18 billion in 2017/18 but the budget allocation was Rs. 3.09 billion. The year witnessed about 81 per cent budget gap in road maintenance. 


Likewise, in 2016/17, the government allocated Rs. 5.60 billion budget against the need of 16.77 billion thus creating budget gap of 67 per cent. 


In contrast, the Strategic Investment Plan prepared by the DoR and the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport estimated that the road sector development demanded about Rs. 700 billion from 2016 to 2020. 


Nepal needs about Rs. 112 billion for basic road expansion, development of main highways and reconstruction of earthquake affected roads and bridges and Rs. 36 billion for highway maintenance for 2016-2020 period. 


The strategic plan estimates that the country needs Rs. 649.1 billion for 2020-2025 and Rs. 860 billion for 2025-2030 period. 


But, due to the devolution process in the recently implemented federal structure of the country, the legal and institutional setup for roads is currently in flux, read the report. 


While the road development is facing budget crisis and policies are not yet fully devised to manage various types of roads, about 77 per cent national highways are in poor status. 


According to the report, transport costs are high due to poor road quality at high gradients, leading to long journey times and high fuel consumption. 


Meanwhile, available funds are not fully utilised due to weak capacity for procurement, contact management, and implementation, and government agencies in procurement management, construction supervision and contract management suffer from weak institutional capacity. 


The report makes a note that the DoR faces lack of sufficient, qualified personnel for construction supervision and contract management as a result even low budget allocations are not fully absorbed.

The Ministry of Finance allocates budget about 30 per cent of the total requirement and the DoR spends only about 80 per cent of that money. 


The World Bank also concludes that the private sector capacity is also weak. “Delays in project completion and poor-quality construction are common and these are mainly due to inefficient management and low financial capacity,” it said.



Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 14 September 2019. 

MCA projects to start from June end next year

Kathmandu, Aug 8

The 630 million US Dollars (Rs. 71.19 billion) Millennium Challenge Compact (MCA) that aims to develop large transmission line and substation projects and rehabilitate strategic roads will enter into force from June 30, 2020. 


The ‘Entry into Force’ date for the implementation of the MCA has been set in an agreement between the government of Nepal and Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) – an agency of the United States of America. 


“The government took the decision about the date through the Ministry of Finance, after consultation with all relevant ministries and departments and the implementation agency, MCA-Nepal,” Khadga Bahadur Bisht, Executive Director of MCA-Nepal,  said at a press meet on Thursday. 


MCA-Nepal is a government agency formed by an executive order of the Cabinet as per the Development Board Act 1956 in order to manage the compact. 


The projects include 318 km long 400 kV transmission lines, three large capacity substations and rehabilitate 318 km of strategic roads.


The MCC and Nepal have pledged by 500 million US$ and 130 million US$ budget to the programme respectively.  


The Electricity Transmission Project includes programmes like increasing domestic electricity consumption by improving the availability and reliability of energy in the nation’s grid, construction of high voltage construction lines equivalent to one-third of the length of the country, construction of substations and power sector technical assistance. 


The substations will be built in Ratmate of Nuwakot, Damauli of Tanahun and Butwal of Rupandehi districts.  


Similarly, the Road Maintenance project will rehabilitate roads across the country. 


“Poor road maintenance makes travel and transport of goods further challenging and expensive,” said Bisht. “To address the high cost of transit, the 52.2 million RMP aims to maintain road quality across the strategic roads network, preventing further deterioration of Nepal’s road network.” 


Amaliya-Salyan Bazar road, Hetauda-Bhimphedi road, Kadmaha-Gaighat road, Dharan-Basantapur road and Charali-Phidim road are the part of the project. 


For the reliable maintenance of the roads, the project will transfer latest technology like full depth reclamation. 


According to Bisth, as the government was focusing on expanding the road network across the country, maintenance of the existing roads was neglected which had negative impact on the time and cost of transportation and road safety as well, so the MCA had given special attention to the road maintenance instead of creating new roads. 


He said that maintenance of roads was more cost effective than building the new roads. The compact had set a condition that the government should gradually increase the road maintenance budget over the years. 


It is estimated that about 23.5 million people would be benefitted from the ETP and 9 million people from the RMP. 


Bisht said that following the announcement of the entry into force date, all implementation activities must be completed within five-years, as there were no provisions for time extension or cost increase.

“Therefore, we have made sound preparations for the projects so that there wouldn’t be any hurdles after they are implemented,” he said. 


The failure to complete the projects by the deadline means the budget would go back to the MCC, USA. 


As per the condition set by the MCC, Nepal has declared the ETP as a National Pride Project and pledged a legislation to create an Electricity Regulatory Commission. 


The drafting and approval of the Environmental Impact Assessment and completion of proper land acquisition and forest clearance to finally obtain site access is currently progressing well, said Bisht. 


Economic constraints analysis completed prior to the design of the Compact’s projects showed lack of sufficient and reliable electricity and high cost of transportation based on low road maintenance as binding constraints to economic growth.

Nepal had signed the compact agreement with the MCC on September 14,  2017.



Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 9 August 2019. 

Work begins at Timure Port

Rasuwagadhi, Rasuwa, May 28

 The construction work at the Timure Dry Port in Timure of Rasuwa district has begun.

Chinese contractor Tibet Fuli Construction Group Company Limited (TFCGCL) is constructing the second dry port at the northern border of the country with facilities like quarantine office, customs office, intermodal transport office, parking yard, cargo warehouse and banks.

It is being built with the technical and financial support from China.

The first dry port at the northern border is built in Larcha, near Tatopani, which came into operation from Tuesday.

The Timure Dry Port will have the capacity to accommodate about 350 trucks and containers but in the initial phase, such facility will be for only about 70 trucks, said Joint Secretary at the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies Nabaraj Dhakal.

"It is an international port so it will have all facilities required to facilitate the cross-border trade. Model of Larcha Dry Port will be replicated in Timure as well," he said.

The developer of the port will complete the port in 30 months and hand it over to Nepal but it will be operated by a private company like other ports in the country. The Nepal Inter-Model Transport Development Board (NITDB) had signed an agreement with the Tibet Fuli earlier this month to construct the trade infrastructure that was on the cards for many years.

The Rs. 1.98 billion project spread in 8.5 hectares of land on the bank of the Bhotekoshi River will have separate entry and exit points. According to Homnath Bhattarai, Officer at the Rasuwa Customs Office, the port will expand along the river bank.

He said that the development of the Dry Port will promote more bilateral trade between the two countries from the Rasuwagadhi border since the current status of the border is pathetic.

While China has completed the construction of required infrastructure at its side in the Rasuwagadhi border, Nepal is yet to build the facilities. Miteri Bridge which is undertaken by the Chinese government is in the last phase of completion, but Nepal has failed to construct the immigration building at its side. The progress is very slow.

China has also agreed to build a two-lane road from Rasuwagadhi to Syaphrubesi within two years. Likewise, the Nepali Army has completed the track opening of the Betrawati-Mailung-Syaphrubesi road. As the Betrawati-Ramche-Dhunche-Syaphrubesi is long, narrow and damaged at multiple locations, containers and trucks are taking the newly opened road which goes along the Trishuli and Bhotekoshi rivers.

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 29 May 2019. 

Scramble for space on roads leading to accidents: Experts

Kathmandu, Mar. 20: Inadequate road safety funding and lack of engagement of the major stakeholders in policy making has contributed to the rise in road accidents, experts said.

Former Vice-President of the National Planning Commission (NPC) Dr. Jagadish Chandra Pokharel said that the exclusion of primary stakeholders – passengers/users, drivers and investors – from policy engagement was one of the major causes for the soaring cases of road accidents.

"The government and other concerned authorities rarely consult with these groups. It is necessary to understand their concerns to make road safety policy effective," he said while speaking at a 3-day Road Safety Capacity Building Workshop that started on Tuesday in Lalitpur.

According to him, competition for space in the road has also created risks.

Chief of Road Safety Project at the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport (MoPIT) Engineer Saroj Pradhan said that inadequate road safety funding coupled with poor monitoring and evaluation system was the major cause of surging road accidents in the country.

According to the statistics of Traffic Police, almost eight people lose their life in road accidents every day in Nepal. Rough estimates show that the country loses about Rs. 30 to 90 billion every year due to the road accidents.

Pradhan said that the number of fatalities in road mishaps had been continuously increasing. There were about 837 fatalities in 2007 which increased to 2,386 in 2018.

"Nepal is witnessing 10 times higher fatalities as compared to its regional neighbours," he said.

He also pointed towards the lack of sustained commitment and understanding on implications of the road accidents from political and top bureaucratic levels as well as poor implementation of law.

Ishtiaque Ahmed, expert from the Transport Division of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP), said that Nepal was prone to fatal road mishaps due to its difficult geographical setting.

"Same traffic condition in Bangladesh or in the Terai of Nepal will not be dangerous as in the hills and mountains," he said.

He suggested for early adoption of the 3-star International Road Assessment Programme (IRAP) and Asian Roads Standards to promote road safety.

Although the government has implemented Road Safety Action Plan since 2013, there are no signs of improvement.

According to recent studies, about 72 per cent accidents happen due to the negligence on the part of the drivers while over-speeding is the second biggest cause.

Similarly, drunk driving has 2 per cent share in road mishaps while overtaking, vehicle problem, pedestrians and poor road condition have 1 per cent share each. About 4 per cent accidents happen due to other reasons.

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 21 March 2019.  

Lack of states' capacity behind poor infra development: Mahaseth

Kathmandu, Mar. 19: Lack of capacity in the provincial governments to implement infrastructure projects has created challenges to the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport (MoPIT) in managing infrastructure development in federal structure.

Almost all provinces have asked the central government to take back the responsibility of road projects, which was transferred to them as per the spirit of the federal constitution, Minister for Physical Infrastructure and Transport Raghubir Mahaseth said at a programme organised to publish the annual report of the Ministry since his appointment, on Tuesday.

The process to transfer the projects from provincial governments to the federal ministry is cumbersome. Respective provincial government has to write to the concerned ministry at the centre, and then the ministry has to obtain consent from the Ministry of Finance for the fund transfer. After the process is complete, the ministry has to send the proposal to the Cabinet for approval.

"The process to transfer the projects should be simplified and capacity of the sub-national governments should be strengthened so that they can handle large infrastructure projects," said Minister Mahaseth.

About 72,000 km road has been transferred to the provinces.

However, the Minister said that the government had tried to address the policy gaps and create a favourable policy environment for the efficient development, and successfully managed many challenges.

The MoPIT has achieved 38 per cent financial progress by mid-March and projected that it will witness 60 per cent capital expenditure by mid-April.

"Our aim is to spend more budget than that allocated to the ministry. More can be done if the government provides us additional Rs. 12-15 billion," said Minister Mahaseth.

According to him, construction of 92 bridges has been completed and more than 200 bridges will be completed within the current fiscal year.

He said that bridges over the Ratu River, Marin River, Kamala River and the Bheri River were completed 18 to 12 months before their construction deadline.

About 747 km road is blacktopped last year, 1,118 km graveled and 721 km new tracks were opened in north-south connectivity projects like the Koshi Road, Kali Gandaki Corridor and Hilsa-Simikot Road.

"Similarly, a good progress has been made on the Postal Highway. Of the planned 100 km blacktop, 67 km gravel and two bridges on the highway, 69 km has been blacktopped, 140 km graveled and two bridges have been constructed so far," read the Ministry's report. The Postal Highway project has achieved 65 per cent financial progress by mid-March.

The ministry said that railway construction would be started in the 139-km Jayanagar-Bardibas-Nijgadh section in the next fiscal year and rail service would come in to operation in the completed 52-km section.

Director General of the Department of Roads (DoR) Rabindra Nath Shrestha said that Tripureshwor-Kalanki-Nagdhunga road would be blacktopped by mid-May and Chabhil-Jorpati-Sankhu road by mid-June.

On the part of transportation management sector, the government is in the final stage of policy formulation for the Transport Authority. Likewise, passenger insurance amount would be increased to Rs. 1.5 million.

The government is purchasing 300 electric buses in partnership with the Kathmandu Metropolitan City, read the report.

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on March 20, 2019. 

Toyota Rush makes its way to Muktinath

Kathmandu, Mar. 15: Toyota Rush has made its way to Muktinath in Mustang and back to the Capital city.

In an effort to test the power, performance and endurance of the newly arrived vehicle, the United Traders Syndicate (UTS), the authorised distributer of Toyota in Nepal, has organised a trip to the religious heritage site in the Himalayan district.

"Rush is new in Nepal and we wanted to check its power and performance in all types of roads, and the new compact SUV has proved that it can reliably approach to any destination, including the rough terrain, at ease, safety and convenience," said Bibek Bahadur Balami, Sales and Marketing Manager of the company.

He said that Rush surprised themselves with its power and endurance as it went through the newly developed track in the Kali Gandaki corridor, the road that connects China and India border – from Thori of Parsa district to Korala in Mustang district.

The trip was named as 'Rush to Mustang' campaign and included seven Rush cars of different colours and two Toyota Hilux pickups. The convoy followed the Kathmandu-Pokhara-Kushma-Beni-Ghansa-Lete-Tukuche-Jomsom-Kagbeni route to reach the famous shrine.

After returning to Pokhara, a promotional rally of Rush supported by other Toyota cars was organised in Pokhara. The company said that 15 Rush SUVs were booked following the promotional campaign.

Four models of Rush – Mid MT, High MT, Mid AT and High AT – are available in Nepal. All these are equipped with petrol engine and have 1496 cc displacement, 220 mm ground clearance and 45-litre fuel tank.

They have 6 SRS air bags, emergency brake signal and emergency signal system.

Mid MT comes at a price of Rs. 6.69 million, High AT Rs. 7.14 million, Mid AT Rs. 6.85 million and High AT Rs. 7.55 million.

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 16 March 2019. 

Roads Get Wider

The government has made significant progress in road infrastructure development in the last one year.

"About 708 kilometre road has been black topped while 878 km is gravelled and 717 km road track has been opened in one-year period after the formulation of the present government," said officials at the Department of Roads (DoR). Construction of 92 bridges is also completed. About 1,450 bridges are under construction across the country. 


Information Officer of the DoR Arju Suwal said that 70 km section of the Mid-Hill Highway was blacktopped, 67 km gravelled and 96 km new track was opened last year. 


Similarly, work has been expedited too at the north-south connectivity projects with 8 km track being opened in Hilsa-Simikot road, 29 km track at Koshi Corridor and 34 km at Kaligandaki Corridor.

Postal Highway has witnessed the blacktopping of 58 km section and gravelling of 176 km, and construction of seven bridges. 


According to the DoR, the 46 km-long Galchhi-Trishuli-Betrawati-Mailung road Nadaha-Koshi Bridge-Chatara-Rupnagar road, Leguwaghat-Bojpur road, Haleshi-Diktel road and Bhairahawa-Lumbini-Taulihawa road are moving ahead with desired speed and progress. 


Likewise, expansion of Butwal-Narayangarh (112 km) section of Mahendra Highway is in the final phase of tender. 


The government has completed the pre-feasibility study of tunnel construction at Siddababa in Siddartha Highway, and is evaluating tenders of Naubise-Nagdhunga tunnel road while a request has been sent to Japan government for the construction of Koteshwor-Jadibuti tunnel. 


Meanwhile, the DPR for the expansion of Naubise-Mugling and Mugling-Pokhara section of the Prithvi Highway is completed and the government has requested the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and World Bank for financing. 


National pride road projects are witnessing a sluggish progress for the last many years. The Postal Highway in Terai has achieved only 25 per cent progress in the last 11 years while the Mid-Hill Highway, which is considered as the backbone of development in the hill districts, has achieved 45 per cent physical progress in a decade. 

Likewise, the Kathmandu-Terai Fast Track is gradually achieving momentum. The Nepal Army – developer of the road project – recently said that there has been more than 25 per cent progress in the project. Army has almost finished opening the track, completed the Detailed Project Report (DPR) and made a significant progress in road construction at Nijgadh section. Army has set-up 10 field offices to manage the construction work and has hired multiple contractors to develop the 76-km long expressway at the cost of Rs. 111 billion. 


The Ministry of Finance has ensured that there wouldn't any shortage of funds for the large infrastructure projects and Finance Minister Dr. Yuba Raj Khatiwada has time and again said that he would manage budget for such projects even by transferring funds from the idle projects. 


Quality of roads


Road infrastructure in the country lack desired quality and standards while many of the projects being implemented are myopic and need upgrading in a decade or earlier. Still the government is constructing single lane bridges and narrow roads. Rural agricultural roads have become a major means to spend budget but are seldom taken care of in order to make them all weather roads. 

Absence of competitive laboratory and engineering monitoring has allowed the sub-standard works go unabated. Similarly, the low-bidding provision in the Public Procurement Act has become another hurdle in infrastructure development. As per the provision, the government has to award the tender to the lowest bidders and the latter takes the initial 20 per cent mobilisation cost and never appears in the project site. 


About Rs. 20 billion has been misappropriated in mobilisation cost. The DoR is implementing 906 projects and 242 of them are sick, according to a recent report published by the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA), the anti-graft body in the country.

"There are no effective monitoring mechanisms at the implementing agencies. Quality control tools are rarely used," said the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport (MoPIT).


Legal instrument in the offing

The NPC said that the project managers, procurement process, poor planning and execution were the major reasons behind the pathetic progress at the national project. It had proposed to formulate an act to address these maladies and define the framework to select and execute the national pride projects but it’s yet to be realised.

In the National Development Action Committee (NDAC) meeting a month ago, NPC Vice-Chairman Prof. Dr. Pushpa Raj Kandel said that the provincial governments should coordinate with the local levels in order to expedite the works at the large infrastructure projects including the national pride projects. 

The NPC is creating a Project Information Management System to create an evidence-based database to support the development work in the country. Such system can create better coordination among the concerned development ministries and other government agencies. 

Similarly, the Public Expenditure Review Commission (PERC) has prepared recommendations for re-prioritising development projects. It has found that the selection of development projects without any set-standards, and finalisation of multi-year projects without the guarantee of resources, implementation without preparedness and action plan and misusing the project designs and tenders within the setting between the government agencies and contractors were the major hurdles in infrastructure development.

According to the DoR, Postal Highway, Madan Bhandari Highway, Mid-Hill Highway and other strategic roads will be completed within four years, and strategy has also been developed for the same. 

It also said that if additional Rs. 12 billion budget was provided, construction of about 400 bridges would be completed within the current fiscal year.

Published in the Special Supplement of The Rising Nepal Daily on 15 February 2019.