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Green Signal To Construct Fast-track Highway Between Kathmandu and Hetauda
By KTM Metro Reporter
May 22, 2013: the government has given an approval of constructing a fast-track highway between Kathmandu and Hetauda to a private company called Nepal Infrastructure Development Company at a ceremony held in Kathmandu yesterday. Secretary to the Ministry of Physical Planning and Works Tulsi Prasad Sitaula presented the approval document to the Chairman of the company Kush Kumar Joshi at a ceremony; the approval was following the Private Investment Act of 2063 (2006), according to the news in ‘gorkhapatra’ of today.
The company was about to start off the laying the foundation stone of constructing this highway even in January 2013 but the then government headed by Dr Baburam Bhattarai withheld the approval stating the study on the technicality of the highway was necessary.
At the same time, the Nepal Army had completed the opening of this fast-track highway, and acquired all the land required for constructing the highway making the task of the private company easy.
The highway will be of four lanes. It will have a divider at the middle, and parking lots at various places, and green belt everywhere. Its length will be 58 km. It will have 25 bridges including 16 major bridges, and three tunnels: one each at Chovar, Kulekhani, and Bhainse. The total length of all tunnels will be 4.5 km.
The estimated cost of the highway is Rs 34.5 billions. More than 200,000 agencies, companies, and beneficiaries have shown interest in investing in this highway. The Nepal Infrastructure Development Company is going to construct it following the concept of public-private-people’s partnership. The company will run it for 30 years and then turn it over to the government.
Fuel saving alone per year will be of Rs 15 billion. You can imagine how much money the country will save, and save the environment deterioration caused by the burning of the fossil fuels by the vehicles running between Kathmandu and Hetauda. It also will save the billions of rupees worth of spare parts to be used by the vehicles, and the wear and tear of engines, too.
Drivers will take slightly more than an hour for traveling from Kathmandu to Hetauda, and vice versa. Currently, drivers take 6-8 hours traveling along the highway called ‘Byroad:’ 78 km long hill highway, and four hours traveling from Dakshinkali to Hetauda: it is a narrow road.
