Insufficient infrastructure

Economic Survey 080 The number of vehicles registered in transport offices till the end of February is 55 lakh 26 thousand 192. In proportion to the increase in the number of vehicles, neither the road infrastructure has been built nor the roads that have been expanded and upgraded have been completed. As a result, passengers and drivers are forced to suffer during the journey. Not only that, the risk of accidents is increasing because of the road itself.

The roads that were built are not very durable. So there is no option of annual maintenance. Unsightly potholes on the highway are increasing the risk of accidents. Such scenes can easily be seen on most of the streets of the capital. Automobile businessmen complain that it is difficult to do business due to the condition of the road. They say that the main problem is the inability to build vehicle-friendly infrastructure and the roads that have been constructed are not completed.

Dhruv Thapa, the former president of NADA Automobiles Association of Nepal, said that due to the bad condition of the road, there is a risk of accidents and a huge loss of human wealth every year. "The more the condition of the road deteriorates, the more the vehicles will deteriorate and the cost of maintenance will be higher," he said. "In Nepal, they look broken and old in three/four years, the only reason for this is the road," he says.

Major highways are being upgraded across the country. First the road had two lanes. As a result, those roads could not handle the increased traffic. Highway bridges were narrow, which forced traffic jams.

According to the road department, major highways are being expanded and upgraded keeping in mind the traffic volume. Now Kamala-Kanchanpur and Narayangadh-Butwal roads are under expansion. But after 6 years of construction of Narayangadh-Butwal road, the work is still not completed. The road is bumpy. The road department claims that after the construction, the road will be widened and it will be convenient for the passengers. The main road will have four lanes and six lanes with service lanes in the market area. Similarly, concrete bridges are also under construction.

'Due to roads, the cost of vehicles is increasing, there is a need to import a lot of spare parts,' said Thapa, the former president of NADA, 'Roads are the first basis of development, the work on upgraded roads should be completed quickly.' Allegedly. He said that electric vehicles suffer more damage than others because of the road itself. "Except for some of these vehicles, the ground clearance of others is low, due to the road, you have to drive at risk," he said.

Former Secretary Arjunjung Thapa also says that according to the current number of vehicles, 120,000 km of roads are needed. According to him, roads have been built in such a way that 94 percent of the total population can walk 1 km to meet some local road . He says that if you walk more than 5 km, you will find the highway.

"Roads will reach 100 percent of the population as per the requirement," he said. Similarly, Koshi, Kaligandaki, Hulaki, Madhyapahari, Madanbhandari highways are under construction. If the construction of these highways is completed, the locals will have easy road access. Not only will the journey be faster, locally produced agricultural produce will get an easy market.

Kathmandu-Tarai/Madhesh (Fast Track) Expressway is under construction to connect Kathmandu-Madhesh. After the construction of this road, Nijgarh in Bara can be reached in one hour from Kathmandu. After the construction of the fast track, daily necessities will be brought to the capital easily. Which will also reduce the cost and the price will be cheaper. The road infrastructure built

is not very durable. Peeling of black paper and potholes are quick. Former Secretary Thapa suggests that special attention should be paid when driving a vehicle in the rainy season. 'Slippery mud falls on the road along with landslides, it cannot be completely removed, some of it is stuck on the road,' he said. ;

Former Secretary Thapa said that there is more problem of vehicle slipping on Prithvi Highway and Narayangadh-Muglin Road. He said that hoarding boards should be placed on highways to inform about landslide risk areas. Where there are landslides, there is more road damage. "The enemy of Alkatra is water," he said.

He also told that the provision of drains should be made mandatory to prevent water from flowing on the road. "The roads in Kathmandu have deteriorated, the reason for this is due to poor sewage management, on the other hand, the roads built by the Nepal Electricity Authority, Kathmandu Valley Water Supply Limited in the name of underground pipes are not durable," he said. .'

Currently, construction of tunnels has been given top priority to make road infrastructure fast and efficient. Now Nagadhunga-Sisnekhola tunnel is in the stage of finishing after being 'break through'. A 2.688 km tunnel has been constructed as an alternative as most of the traffic jams occur at Nagadhunga uphill. The road department is preparing to bring vehicles into operation from the tunnel by January 2018.

The construction of Siddhababa Tunnel in Palpa is also going on in full swing. Similarly, the work of upgrading the Nagadhunga-Muglin and Muglin-Pokhara roads is going on. Sushilbabu Dhakal, Joint Secretary and Spokesperson of the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport, said that road access has reached all areas. "Construction of roads is very expensive, vehicles do not ply on all the roads that have been constructed," he said. Its distance is 14 thousand 953 km. Out of which 12 thousand km have been built. Other roads are under construction. "80 highways are under the jurisdiction of the road department and the roads outside of that are also being constructed," he said, "some are under construction."

Dhakal said that there are some problems due to road upgrading work going on everywhere. "It will be very easy after the construction of upgraded roads is completed, now the upgrade work has started from Kakdvitta," he said, "there is a problem in Narayangadh-Butwal, work is being done to prevent problems from happening elsewhere." Dhakal says that the government's focus is on making it moveable.

According to the economic survey, the number of buses is 68 thousand 127, minibuses and trucks 37 thousand 843, cars, jeeps, vans 342 thousand 687, microbuses 12 thousand 45 and motorcycles 44 lakh 75 thousand 342 . The number of registered vehicles is high.