KATHMANDU, Feb 18: Nepal and India will soon sign a pact for the construction of 20 feeder roads in different districts of the Tarai, said a top official at the Ministry of Physical Planning and Works.
Nepal has recently sent a draft of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on construction of the much-awaited feeder roads in the southern areas of the East-West highway in 13 districts of Tarai to the Indian government for approval. The draft has recently been approved by Nepal.[break]
The proposed 1,444 km project includes 53 roads to be completed in three phases, improving road connectivity of the southern belt bordering India with other strategic locations of those districts.
DoR constructs over 36,000 kilometers of roads across Nepal so...
“We have held talks with Indian officials, and they are positive in this regard. Once both sides sign the pact, the first phase of the construction will begin immediately,” Kamal Raj Pandey, joint secretary at the MoPPW told myrepublica.com.
“We are in the process of acquiring land and conducting Initial Environmental Examination (IEE) of the construction sites for the construction of different sections of road totaling 695 km in 13 districts,” Pandey said. As per the initial survey, the construction cost of the road will be Rs 16 million per km.
In a bid to establish linkage with other parts of the districts with district headquarters, highways and major roads, such feeders roads will be built in Jhapa, Morang, Saptari, Dhanusa, Mahottari, Sarlahi, Bara, Kapilvastu, Banke, Bardia, Kailali, Dang and Parsa districts under the project.
According to Pandey, construction of 50 km in Jhapa, 22 km in Morang, 18 km in Saptari, 92 km in Dhanusa, 57 km in Mahottari, 69 km in Sarlahi, 68 km in Bara, 33 km in Kapilvastu, Banke in 49, 35 km in Bardia, 100 km in Kailali, 34 km in Dang and 68 km in Parsa will be completed under the first phase works.
Nepal and India had signed a MoU to conduct a survey design in 2005 for construction of a Tarai Road project in the southern parts of the East-West highway.
Under the Tarai road agreement, 17 and 16 roads will be constructed in the second and third phases, respectively.
RITES India (Rail India Technical and Economic Services), an Indian government undertaking, is the consultant appointed for construction of the roads.
prabhakar@myrepublica.com
