To reach the BP highway that connects the districts of Eastern Terai and Pahad, you have to cross the Suryavinayak-Dhulikhel road first. But drivers and passengers always have to push and pull to cross this road. Roads demolished for expansion are dusty when the sun shines and muddy when it rains. The Bhaktapur section of this road has more problems.

There is a risk of having to travel through this road after reaching Chowkidanda of BP Highway. The reason is that the road has been built by diverting the river, and there is no way to tell what will happen if there is a big flood, according to the road project itself. After the flood of last October damaged the highway, the passengers have been traveling with difficulty in the 12 km section. In some places, the narrow roads have led to traffic jams. 

It has been 29 months since the Dhulikhel road from Bhaktapur to Suryavinayak in Kavre was expanded to four lanes. But so far the construction progress is only 47 percent. 53 percent of the work should be completed within the next 7 months. Looking at the speed of the construction going on now, it does not seem likely that the work will be completed within that time. 

The total distance of the road connecting the two districts is 15.8 km, which is being divided into two sections, one of which is Suryavinayak-Sanga. The distance of this section is 7.5 km. The contract for the said section was taken by Ashish-Kumar Shrestha-Bandhan Bhagwati JV on 24th December 2079. The contract amount of which is 3 billion 88 million 93 million rupees. The progress of this section is 37 percent and the deadline is only up to the next December 27.  

Bishnuprasad Khanal, engineer of Suryavinayak-Dhulikhel road project, said that it will be difficult to complete the work within the stipulated time due to the monsoon. "It may take a little more time," he said, "the work can be completed within the said period." In this section, the work of subbase and wall is being done. He said that preparations are being made for the subbase in the Sanga section. "If the weather cooperates, there are preparations to subbase the service lane from Suryavinayak to Jagati before June," said Khanal, "the distance of which section is one and a half kilometers." 

is another segment, Sanga-Dhulikhel. The distance of this section is 8.3 km. One km second level road in Dhulikhel has been blacked. Khanal said that preparations are being made for the final layer of blackboard. "We are preparing to lay one more kilometer of tarmac on the road from Banepa to Bhaktapur," he said.

Lama Construction took the contract for the said section on 27th November 2079 for 4 billion 564 million rupees. Project engineer Khanal said that the construction progress is 48 percent and the deadline for this section is up to December 27. "The work of the structure has been completed, now only the black sheeting is left," he said, "the start date is still left, if the time is not enough, we can add a little more work." The road has been expanded to four lanes after 25 years of its construction. He says that even though the work is going on now, there will be problems due to water. Due to the high volume of vehicles, there is a daily traffic jam in this section. 

The design for the construction of concrete bridge on Jagati and Mahadev rivers has been approved and the work has started. Design approval for construction of bridge on Punyamati river is under process. "The design of the Punyamati Khola bridge will be finalized by June," he said, "we can build all the bridges within a year, the work is being done accordingly." 

Director General of Roads Department Vijay Jaisi said that there were no problems during the construction and there was no lack of budget. "First, when the expansion of this road started, there were various problems, there was a problem for some time due to the compensation of the real estate," he said, "After the construction started in some places, there was a problem with the design, there was some delay when the design was reconsidered and the work started." 

He said that there is also a budget problem in the current financial year. "The problem is the budget, as much work has been done," he said, "There is a low budget allocation for the next financial year, only 800 million has been allocated out of the 3 billion budget required."

  Sasti to bring goods from Tatopani crossing  

General Secretary of Nepal Himalayan Cross Border Commerce Association Ramchandra Parajuli said that due to unstable road infrastructure, there is a problem in bringing daily goods into the capital from Tatopani. "The condition of the highway from Suryavinayak to Arani is critical," he said.

When the road was smooth, vehicles carrying goods from Tatopani would enter Kathmandu in 5 hours. General Secretary Parajuli said that it will take about 10 hours now.

 ''Due to the bad condition of the road, it is difficult to bring the goods on time, which has also increased the cost of the goods,'' he said. "There is Tatopani Naka at a distance of 127 km from Kathmandu," he said. If it rains more than two or four days, there is a problem of landslides, mud and vehicles not moving.' 

He said that there are many goods imported from Tatopani. "Apples, garlic, ginger and other daily necessities, clothes, electric vehicles also come through this channel," he said, "There is a problem of new vehicles getting damaged due to the road. Apples have rotted on the way because they could not bring them to Kathmandu on time.' 

According to him, 20 to 25 vehicles carrying goods enter Kathmandu every day from Tatopani crossing. During the festival, more than hundred such vehicles arrive in the capital. "We have informed the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supply, Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport, Road Department many times that business has been affected due to roads. We have been pushing to finish the construction quickly,'' he said, 'but the road has been demolished and delayed.'  He said that it is necessary to take initiative from all sides to build