Even after 8 years, the dispute over the Khokna section of the expressway is not resolved, affecting the progress of the entire project
What you should know
Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli has instructed the officials of the relevant ministries to quickly resolve the dispute on the Khokna section of the Terai/Madhesh Expressway towards Lalitpur.
On Sunday, Defense Minister Manveer Rai, Physical Infrastructure and Transport Minister Devendra Dahal, Secretaries of concerned ministries, Nepali Army and other stakeholders called Baluwatar and the Prime Minister instructed them to proceed with the construction.
The dispute over the expressway under the management of the army towards Lalitpur has not been resolved even after 8 years. Out of the total 70.977 km of the expressway, 6.5 km has not yet started. On the 64.477 km section, work is being done on a contract basis. The army says that the progress of the entire project has been affected due to the non-resolution of the Khokna dispute. Prime Minister Oli has said that he had a thorough discussion with the relevant agencies about the problem of the Khokna section. "As soon as the construction of the Khokna area is completed, the road will be connected to the Terai," he wrote on Facebook on Monday. For this, the Prime Minister is ready to go to Khokna and discuss with the locals, according to his secretariat.
Defense Ministry Secretary Rameshwar Dangal said that despite discussions with the Prime Minister, no decision has been taken regarding the Khokna section. "We are preparing to talk to the disaffected parties and understand their demands," he said.
Although the detailed project report (DPR) of Khokna section has been prepared, the dispute has not allowed further work to proceed. 211 ropani land of this section has not yet been acquired. In the Khokna area, due to difficulties in obtaining documents of various types of land and some individual land, land acquisition has not been possible. Locals have been taking a stand that these projects should not be built in one place, saying that if many projects such as smart city, outer ring road, and expressway are built in one place, the archaeological heritage will be destroyed.
Lalitpur Metropolitan Municipality-21 Ward President Ravindra Maharjan said that there was no further progress regarding the Khokna land after the discussion at the Ministry of Defense last November. "Work should be done in such a way that the heritage of this area is not damaged," he said. A study report by a professor of Pulchok Engineering Campus on the alternative starting point of the expressway was submitted to the Ministry of Defense and Physical Infrastructure and Transport in March 2080. It is mentioned in the report prepared after 9 months that Khokna area is suitable. Another option is to build a viaduct (bridge) over the Bagmati river without falling in the Sikalighat area. But the study has pointed out that social and cultural problems may come from this.
Another option is to build a four-lane corridor road from Bungmati as the starting point and acquire new land for that. It does not belong to Sikalighat area. For this, new land will have to be acquired on the right bank of the Bagmati River. According to the study, a two-lane road can be constructed around the Bagmati river corridor by making Bungmati itself the starting point. It is said that Bungmati itself will be the starting point and more land will be acquired on the left bank. Another option is to use the right bank of the Bagmati River by making the starting point Dukuchhap and some land can be acquired for that, it is mentioned in the report. But the government has neither discussed nor made any decision about which option to adopt. Army spokesman and assistant Rathi Rajaram Basnet said that efforts are being made by the Ministry of Defense to solve the problem of Khokna section.
The cabinet decided to give the responsibility of highway construction management to the army on 21 Baisakh 2074. Later, the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport handed over the project to the Army on 27 July 2074. With the army taking over, it was said to be able to work till December 2081. The deadline has been extended till March 2083, but the progress is minimal. The construction progress so far is only 42.13 percent.
57.87 percent of the work has to be completed in the next 21 months. "If the contract is awarded, the construction is going on in full swing," said Basnet, the military spokesman, "up to 81 meters high concrete bridges are being built." The initial cost estimate of the expressway was Rs 92 billion. Later it was increased to 1 trillion 16 billion rupees. Later, it was revised to 1 trillion 75 billion rupees. As it seems that the work will not be completed with the said budget, the initial estimate has now been revised to Rs 2 trillion 11 billion 93 crores. About 80 billion rupees have been spent so far.
