Despite the long discussions, the entire ring road expansion is progressing at a snail's pace. Only 11.09 km of the 27-kilometer ring road has been completed so far. There is still uncertainty about the 15.91 km expansion.

It has been 8 years since the Chinese government expanded the first section (Koteshwor-Kalanki) along with the expansion of Kalanki to Basundhara. However, work has not yet begun. The work has not been completed due to problems in demolishing the houses and huts on the approximately 600-meter road section from Basundhara to Narayan Gopal Chowk.

The Chinese government itself had earlier held discussions with government agencies to expand the road from Kalanki to Narayan Gopal Chowk. However, China backed out after seeing problems in demolishing structures including houses in that area. After this, China had stated that it would expand the road only from Kalanki to Basundhara near the Karvalbhat.

6 years in Koteshwor-Kalanki expansion

The 10.39 km road from Koteshwor to Kalanki was completed after 6 years even though the contract was signed in 2069. The work on the first section of Koteshwor-Kalanki was started in 2069 and completed in 2075 BS. The expansion of the second section of 8.2 km was supposed to start immediately, but the work has not been able to gain momentum due to the delays of the Nepal government and then China.

8 years after the completion of the expansion of the first section, the expansion of the Kalanki-Basundhara section (8.2 km) for the second section has finally begun. Currently, preparations are being made to expand the road only up to near Vasundhara Chowk. A G2G agreement was signed with China in 2018 for the expansion of this road section. The Chinese government had been taking the stance that it would not come without completing the preparatory work.

In the meantime, further work could not proceed due to the Corona epidemic. The Nepal government also had a hard time completing the preparatory work. The preparatory work was completed, but the Chinese government did not give any decision to proceed with the work immediately. After that, the process was prolonged again, and the construction work has not yet started. In the meantime, the Chinese government had put forward a demand for a decision on tax exemption on construction materials.

Accordingly, the government decided to exempt construction materials and customs duties from the Cabinet meeting on 12 Falgun, paving the way for the expansion of the second section of the Ring Road. The Road Department stated that the decision for the section was made by the Council of Ministers as the grant amount will not be used for tax purposes as per the foreign aid policy.

It has been years since the work on the expansion of the second section of the Ring Road has started, when asked when the work will start, Arjun Prasad Aryal, Head of the Development Assistance Implementation Division of the Road Department, says, ‘Preparations are being made to sign an implementation agreement between high-ranking government officials of the two countries next week.’ After the agreement, we will finalize it as soon as China submits the design.'

He said that if there are any additions or changes to the final design, it will be finalized by giving immediate suggestions. After the design and bid documents are approved and sent, the construction company and consultant will be selected from there.

The Roads Department has informed that the contract agreement will be signed within a month from the date of signing the implementation agreement if there are no problems. 'The contract agreement will be signed before the monsoon and the construction entrepreneurs will be mobilized to the work site,' he said. A Chinese technical team had come to Nepal on 6 Baisakh 2082 to survey the second section of the ring road. The team had conducted the survey for the design for two and a half months.

According to the design, a concrete bridge will be built on the Dhungedhara. Three sky bridges will be made disabled-friendly. A sky bridge will be built between Sitapaila, Balaju and Machhapokhari and between Samakhusi Basundhara police post. The department has stated that the street lights from Kalanki to Basundhara Chowk have been designed to be built by China during the road expansion.

Aryal said that there may be some ups and downs in this when the design is finalized before the construction agreement. The second section is being expanded with a grant from the Chinese government.

Ashika Pokharel, the chief of the Kathmandu Ring Road Expansion Planning Office, said that the construction of the service lane to be built by the Nepal government is in the final stages before the Chinese team starts work. ‘This work will be completed within this fiscal year. There were also disputes with the locals in some places, which are being resolved,’ she said. ‘The work will be completed in most places, and we will make it possible to drive vehicles through the service lane when we come to work.’ She said that work is being done to make the site fully available when the Chinese construction company arrives.

Third section of the Ring Road expansion in final stage

The third section of the Ring Road expansion has reached the stage of being completed by the Nepal government with its own investment. Under the third section, a 700-meter extension of the slipper factory from Narayan Gopal Chowk has been completed. According to the contract agreement signed on 6 Falgun 2081, the extension of this section should have been completed by 25 Ashar 2082. After the work was not completed within that time, a deadline of 13 Falgun was given.

Shreyanka Rauniyar of the Road Division Office, Kathmandu, said that the work was completed in 13 months after the start of construction. ‘The construction work has been completed,’ she said, ‘The road marking will be completed within a week. After this, it will be cleaned and it will be fully operational.’

The contract for the road expansion has been won by Ambuja/SK/Kali JV. The contract amount including VAT is Rs 240 million. It has been expanded to 6 lanes.

According to the Kathmandu Valley Traffic Police Office, around 400 to 500 passenger vehicles pass through the ring road daily. Subodh Kumar Devkota, Chief of the Road Division Office, Kathmandu, said that the road from Narayan Gopal Chowk to Chappal Karkhana has been expanded by managing drinking water pipes, electricity poles, and sewage, keeping in mind the daily traffic volume.

‘It has been expanded to 8 lanes including a service lane, which is an example that the Nepal government itself can build such a road on time,’ he said. ‘If we get the source agreement for the 1,200-meter road expansion from Chappal Karkhana to Dhobikhola (to Gopikrishna Bridge), we would have moved the contract process forward in the current fiscal year.’ The section other than the one to be built by China falls within the jurisdiction of the Road Division Office, Kathmandu.