Road network improvement programme launched

Kathmandu: With the introduction of federalism in the country, the work of improving the road network in three tiers has been started according to the decentralization of rights and responsibilities between the federal, provincial and local governments.

Under the coordination of the Ministry of Urban Development, the work of improving the road network for the next five years has been started in Madhesh, Karnali and Sudurpaschim provinces at Rs 16.64 billion.

The Regional and Local Road Improvement Programme under the Ministry of Urban Development has been launched, with the loan support of the World Bank. A memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed at a ceremony organized here today.

According to the Ministry, the objective of the programme is to improve the regional road network, to provide basic all seasonal road access to the centres of the local level that are not connected by the road network, as well as to enhance the capacity of the local and provincial governments and strengthen the institutions.

Under this programme, the goal is to upgrade provincial roads so that 200 km of roads will be in full-time operation, periodic maintenance of 300 km of provincial roads, regular maintenance of 2,500 km of roads, construction of 100 km of new roads and access to the local level and ward centres.

Similarly, the goal of the programme is to develop the institutional capacity of the federal, state and local levels, and to increase the road safety management capacity of road infrastructure building agencies.

At the ceremony, Deputy Prime Minister and Urban Development Minister Prakash Man Singh said that the programme will play a coordinating role in the development of the three levels of government after the establishment of the Federal Democratic Republic.

Also, he said that the road network is the backbone for the development and he expected that this project would be completed on time due to the coordination of the three levels of government.

Thus, he stressed that the construction and maintenance of regional and local roads should be environment-friendly, climate-friendly and labour-friendly to make them sustainable. The duration of the programme is from the fiscal year 2080-81 BS to 2084-85 BS.

The estimated cost of the programme is 128 million US dollars (about 16.64 million rupees). Of that, USD 100 million is a World Bank loan while USD 28 million will be from Nepal Government, it is mentioned in the MoU.

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