6 years after the completion of the first section of the ring road, the second section will be inaugurated

After that, the work of extending the second section of 8.2 km was supposed to start, but the work was not able to accelerate due to delays by the Nepal government and then by China.

On this August 6, the process of construction of the second section started after the signing of a letter between the representatives of the Nepalese and Chinese governments regarding cooperation in expansion. While China had signed a JTUG agreement in 2018 for the expansion of this road section. The Chinese government had been taking a stand that they would not come without finishing the preparatory work.

In the meantime, further work could not proceed due to the Corona epidemic. The government of Nepal had to complete the preparatory work. Preparations have been completed, but the Chinese government has not given any decision on whether to proceed with the work immediately. As a result, in the name of preparation, the locals from Kalanki to Vasundhara have had to suffer from mud and dust for almost four years. Businesses in this area have not only become stagnant, some locals say that they had to leave their businesses because of the dust. The locals have even had to protest, pressuring the construction work to proceed quickly.

A team led by MP (currently Minister of Health and Population) Pradeep Paudel went on a mass walk on June 15 to put pressure on the government after the extension was delayed. The team led by Paudel had walked about 12 km from Kalanki to Chabahil.

10 MPs representing Kathmandu filed a proposal of urgent public importance in Parliament last June regarding the expansion of the ring road. They said that the proposal had to be registered as the extension was stalled.

The then Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Physical Infrastructure and Transport Narayan Kaji Shrestha, the Chinese Ambassador to Nepal Chan Song and other joint team conducted an on-site inspection of the road widening section on February 11, 1979. But since then, nothing has been done. The work from China kept getting delayed.

Former Secretary Arjunjung Thapa said that although there is an agreement with China to work on the Koteshwar-Kalanki section as the second section, it has not been implemented. "There has been some delay in its construction," said Thapa, who has also been the Director General of the Roads Department. "We can't make it by maintaining standards like those made by China," he said, "It seems that the Chinese government will invest up to 6 billion rupees."

Finance Secretary Ram Prasad Ghimire on behalf of Nepal Government and Yang Weihun, Vice President of China International Development Cooperation Agency on behalf of China, have signed the letter regarding the support for the expansion of the second section. An agreement has been reached to expand the 8.2 km road from Kalanki to Vasundhara culvert with the assistance of the Chinese government.

Before this, the technical team of China's Henan Communications Planning and Design Institute came to Nepal in February 2019 to prepare a detailed project report (DPR) within two months. Although the team went through the study, the report was not given. Vijay Jaisi, Head of Development Assistance Implementation Division of the Road Department, said that the DPR work will now proceed due to the MoU.

'It will take 6 months to make the DPR, the contract will be made based on this,' Jaisi said, 'There is no delay, Chinese Ambassador to Nepal Chhan Song has said that the construction will start within 10 months.' There is a saying. "China delayed a lot first, even after the end of the covid, they had to wait a long time," he said, "so now the work of the Vasundhara-Koteshwar section is done by the Nepal government itself." For that, in the current fiscal year, preliminary studies, how many houses will be included in the expansion, everything will be understood.'

Since then, the traffic jam has increased due to the haphazard destruction of the road from Kalanki to Vasundhara. The main vehicular road is narrow. The first section of the ring road (Koteshwar-Kalanki road) has been expanded to 8 lanes with concessional loans from China. Its distance is 10.39 km. The work of the first section was also completed in 6 years after the construction started.

The distance from Kalanki to Dhobikhola (bridge near Gopikrishna Hall) is 11.6 km. The Nepal government had proposed to build this section in the second phase. China had said that it would work in the second phase from Kalanki to Bashundhara and the third phase from Bashundhara to Chabahil Dhobikhola bridge.

Now the section from Bashundhara to Koteshwar is going to be built by the Nepal government itself. From Kalanki to Sitapaila, there is now a four-lane road and from Sitapaila to the circular path, there is a 2-lane road. Now it is going to be expanded to 8 lanes. The service lane will be built by the Nepal government itself.