Even though the discussion of the expansion of the second section of the Ring Road has been going on for 7 years, the work has not started yet, while the blacktop work is currently underway on the third section. Under the third section expansion, one side of the road from Narayan Gopal Chowk to the Chappal Karkhana section has been blacktopped. Preparations are underway to blacktop the other side as well.

According to the contract agreement signed on 6 Falgun 081, the work on this section should have been completed by 25 Ashar 082. Since the work was not completed within that time, the deadline is 65 percent, and the work is expected to be completed by 13 Falgun. However, it is not clear that the work will be completed within that time. Subodh Kumar Devkota, Chief of Road Division Kathmandu, claims that it will not take much time as all the construction work has been completed and only the blacktop work is left. 

‘It may take two to four days, but there is no problem in completing the work,’ he said, ‘The main work has been completed, now only the blacktop remains, the first layer of blacktop has been blacktopped on one side.’ The contract for the 700-meter road expansion has been won by Ambuja/SK/Kali JV. He said that the contract amount including VAT is Rs 240 million. It has been expanded to 6 lanes. 

‘Now we are preparing to expand the road from Chappal Karkhana to Gopikrishna Bridge, for which we have sent the National Planning Commission seeking a resource consent of Rs 510 million,’ he said, ‘for a section that is about 1,200 meters long.’ He said that even though it has been two months since the National Planning Commission was sent for resource consent, no further information has been received. ‘We will proceed with the contract process in the current fiscal year if we get the resource consent,’ he said.

There is still no sign of work on the Basundhara-Maharajgunj section. He said that there is a problem with removing land and houses in this section. ‘Until this problem is resolved, work on this section cannot be done,’ he said. It is estimated that it will cost Rs 1 billion to contract the 2.4 km stretch from Basundhara to Gopikrishna Bridge. But since the problem in the Basundhara-Maharajgunj section has not been resolved, the work is being moved forward up to Chappal Karkhana-Gopikrishna Bridge. Although this section was to be built with a grant from the Chinese government, the Nepal government has started expanding it with its own investment after the Kalanki-Basundhara section was delayed. 

Even though the Chinese side has finalized the design, the Nepal government has not been able to move forward with the second section of the Ring Road expansion project because the Nepal government has not decided on tax exemption. In the initial days, the work could not gain momentum due to the Chinese side's delay. 

Now, the delay is due to the Nepal government's failure to make a timely policy decision. As soon as the government decides on this, the Chinese team is ready to move forward with the construction process, a source in the road department said. After this decision, when a Chinese company comes to work, it will not be taxed during the construction process. 

After this decision, the Chinese government will move forward with the process of signing a contract agreement with the construction company, the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport said. Keshav Kumar Sharma, Secretary of the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport, said that the matter has been sent to the Council of Ministers for a decision. ‘We have sent it to the Council of Ministers for decision,’ he said, ‘there will be no problem in moving the work forward after the decision.’ The Road Department stated that the grant amount will not be used for tax purposes as per the foreign aid policy, so it has been sent to the ministry to decide accordingly. The design is in preparation and the Chinese side will submit the design after the tax exemption decision is made. The design will be presented to the Road Department and if any corrections are required, they will be made. The Road Department stated that China will complete the process of selecting the construction company after finalizing the design immediately.