KATHMANDU, August 28: The then Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli laid the foundation stone of the two-lane strategic road for all 165 constituencies at a formal program in Baluwatar on April 3, 2021. It has been 17 months since the then Prime Minister Oli laid the foundation stone of the road centered on the electoral constituency.

The progress of roads focused on the electoral constituency has not progressed as expected. The then Prime Minister Oli had made public an ambitious plan to expand 2,210 kilometers of two-lane strategic roads in all 165 constituencies across the country at a cost of Rs 57 billion within three years.

Since these plans were announced without a DPR and a budget, no progress has been made. Spokesperson for the road department, Bhim Arjun Adhikari said that since the constituency strategic roads were declared without any DPR, their implementation has taken some time.

According to the annual report of the road department for the financial year 2021/22, the DPR of about 69 roads out of 165 roads under the constituency strategic roads have been prepared by the provincial and local governments. The DPR and pre-preparation work of the remaining roads is being done by PAMEU. "The final reports of 91 roads and draft reports of five roads have been received," said the report of the road department.

The Roads Department has published 153 notices for inviting contracts for strategic roads in the electoral constituencies. Similarly, 130 contract agreements have been completed. The government is going to implement the concept of a strategic road network to expand road access in each constituency. Under this, it is said that one two-lane paved road will be constructed in each constituency. The government has to provide Rs 57.10 billion within three years for the construction of 2,210 km of road, but in the current financial year, the government has allocated only Rs 7 billion for this road section.

The government has allocated Rs 600 million for the districts with one constituency each, Rs 500 million for hilly districts with one constituency each, Rs 400 million for districts with two constituencies, Rs 250 million per constituency for districts with three constituencies or more.

Similarly, Rs 200 million will be provided for constituencies in Kathmandu district. Roads that could not be implemented and selected by the federal, provincial and local governments will be selected on priority basis. It is estimated that Rs 57.10 billion will be spent to build these roads in all 165 constituencies.

 
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