India-China linkroads to take '20 years' to complete

Bishnu Prasad Aryal
Kathmandu, April 23

The proposed roads linking from Indian border to China through Nepal will take another 20 years to complete unless the allocation of budget is proportionally increased. Along with facilitating Himalayan people, the roads are expected to boom tourism and trade with China and India.

According to the Ministry of Physical Planning and Works (MoPPW), among the nine roads proposed to link Nepal and China, the construction of six roads is undergoing. The already linked roads are Kathmandu-Kodari (115km), Jomsom-Koral/Lomathang (40km) and Syafrubesui-Rasuwagadhi (16km). Opening of track of Syafrubesi-Lomathang was recently completed.

The other roads under construction are Taplejung-Walangchungwala (100km), Khandbari-Kimathanka (80km), Lamabagar-Falot (25km), Arkhet-Larke (150km), Khulalu-Hilsa (230km), Sanphe-Taklakot (100) and Darchula-Tinkar (90km). The remaining sections of those roads were already linked to India.

The Indian border points of those aforementioned roads are Birgunj, Bhairahawa, Kechana, Jogbani, Bhittamode, Bhairahawa, Nepalgunj, Tikapur and Mahendranagar respectively.

Rs 180 million has been allocated for Darchula-Tinker section in the current fiscal year while Rs 20 million has been allotted for Sanphe-Taklakot. About Rs 40 million has been allocated for each of the other sections of link roads.

Rs 10 million is necessary to construct the one kilometre of track roads, said Tulasi Prasad Sitaula, joint-secretary at the MoPPW. “Additional Rs 15 million needs to blacktop per kilometre of roads, including construction of bridges,” Sitaula said. “If this ratio of allocation of budget continues, it will take another 20 years for completion of the roads,” he added.

The officials at the ministry said that the construction of these roads was not visionary in sense of connecting people of Nepal and major trade centres of China. “We must need to link the roads with major trade centres Lhasa, Shigatse and Mansarovar of China. Lhasa and Shigatse are already linked by Kodari,” they argued.

They reasoned that Nepalese settlements on the high Himalayas are very limited. They can be resettled in the lower parts of the mountains by developing settlements, they said. “It will be better to invest on the hilly highway linking east to west of Nepal that crosses 26 districts of the country. Branch roads can be constructed towards the dense settlement in north and south of the proposed hilly east-west high way,” they added.

The Mid-Hill East West Highway beginning from Chiyabhanjyang, a point in Panchathar district in the far-east with Jhulaghat in Baitadi district in the west measures 1770 km long. Out of the total 1770 km, around 200km is still left to open the track. The road will connect Panchthar, Dhankuta, Bhojpur, Khotang, Okhaldhunga, Udaypur, Sindhuli, Kavre, Bhaktapur, Kathmandu, Dhading, Chitwan, Tanahu, Kaski, Parbat, Baglung, Rukum, Surkhet, Jajarkot, Dailekh, Achham, Doti, Dadheldhura and Baitadi districts.