Despite repeated discussions and agreements between the officials of the two countries (China and Nepal) on the expansion of the second section of the ring road, the construction work has not yet begun. In the beginning, there were problems when the Nepalese government did not complete the preparatory work on time or when the Chinese team did not arrive.

Now, even though all the processes have been completed, the construction work has not been able to move forward. A team led by Arjun Prasad Aryal, head of the Development Assistance Implementation Division under the Roads Department, had reached China some time ago to discuss the finalization of the design of the ring road expansion.

Aryal, who has returned from China, said that the design is now in the finalization stage. ‘We have reached China again and suggested that some structures be added,’ he said. ‘A construction company will be selected in China after the design is finalized.’ It has been agreed that the official consultant of the Chinese government will submit the design. The design was done by Chinese government company CCCC First Highway Consultants and Xi'an Fangzhou Engineering Consulting.

'We are preparing to submit the design to the government agency there within the coming week,' Aryal said, 'We have requested to add a concrete bridge in place of the culvert at the Dhungedhara.' According to him, the construction company will be selected before the monsoon. He said that after the construction company is selected, they will be asked to come to Nepal to set up a camp as a preparation. 'Right now, we have only talked to the consultant,' he said, 'Even if the contract agreement is signed before the monsoon, the work will start only after Dashain.'

Although the construction work has not started as promised time after time, Aryal claims that it will not be delayed much this time. 'In some cases, it was delayed because of us, in some cases it was delayed because of the Chinese side,' he said, 'Now everything has been finalized.' The work will begin after the construction company is selected.'

The team that returned from China has stated that it will inform Infrastructure Development Minister Sunil Lamsal about the discussions on the ring road expansion and the progress made in it. The project implementation agreement was signed between Infrastructure Development Minister Sunil Lamsal and Chinese Ambassador to Nepal Chang Maoming on 16 Baisakh 2083. According to this, it was said to be implemented quickly. However, there has been no significant progress in it so far.

The Chinese government will provide a grant of about 11 billion rupees for the expansion of the second section. The government decided to exempt construction materials and customs duties from the cabinet meeting on 12 Falgun, which paved the way for further processes for the expansion. The road will be expanded only for a distance of 8.2 kilometers from Kalanki to near Basundhara Chowk.

A concrete bridge will be built at Dhungedhara as per the design. Three sky bridges will be made disabled-friendly. A sky bridge will be built between Sitapaila, Balaju and Machhapokhari and between Samakhusi and Basundhara police station. China will build street lights from Kalanki to Basundhara Chowk as part of the road expansion.

The work on the first section of Koteshwor-Kalanki was started in 2069 and completed in 2075. A G2G agreement was signed with China in 2018 to expand the road from Kalanki to Basundhara. Currently, there are four lanes from Kalanki to Sitapaila and two lanes from Sitapaila to the ring road. Now, the expansion will make the road eight lanes, excluding the service lane.

The work could not be completed due to problems with demolishing houses and structures on the approximately 600-meter road section from Basundhara Chowk to Narayangopal Chowk. Although the Chinese government had previously discussed the road expansion from Kalanki to Narayangopal Chowk with government agencies, China backed out after seeing problems with demolishing houses and structures in the area.