Outer ring road a hard sell among Valley public

KATHMANDU, May 14: The news about outer ring road (ORR) construction had brought cheers to the valley public. The excitement, however, petered out soon with the project failing to take off.

Now the government has announced to continue the project again, but people here are not very hopeful that the plan would materialize. [break]

“When the government started it in the beginning we were so hopeful. The way the news was carried by the media made us feel that our government was capable of handling such tasks,” said Prabin Maharjan, who owns an automobile workshop in Kirtipur.

“There were few locals who were opposed to the project as they had failed to understand the advantage of big roads. However, it is the government´s duty to take the people into confidence,” added the local of Machhegaun.

The government had proposed 72 km long outer ring road project for the valley in 2006. During the visit of the then crown prince Paras Shah in 2005 to China, a memorandum of understanding was signed between Nepal and Chinese government regarding the construction of ORR.

According to former secretary at the Ministry of Physical Planning, Works and Transport Management Tulsi Prasad Sitaula, the first phase of the work had already been completed before it came to a halt due to protest by the locals.

The proposed 50 meter wide road with 250 meter of land on either side was being built under land pooling model.

“It needed consent of 51 percent of locals, but only around 15 percent supported the plan. So things could not progress,” he said. ´

The department of urban development and building construction (DUDBC) was appointed as implementing agency of the project. The project was begun with a budget of Rs 3 million in the year 2061 BS.

The ambitious project was hindered not only due to lack of public support but also because of the absence of a master plan of the Kathmandu Valley. The lack of planning standards and urban design guidelines and failure to regulate haphazard urban growth were other serious hindrances, analysts have pointed out several times.

However, the concerned officials now state not to be hopeless about the project anymore. According to Kishore Thapa, secretary at the ministry of physical planning and urban development, the government has expedited talks with the local leaders to gain their favor and the work on detailed project report (DPR) is going on.

However, Maharjan is not ready to believe that the effort would yield any result. "We have heard much talk about metro railway, outer ring road, Melamchi drinking water project and so on. Have any of these been successful? I do not think that government can complete such huge projects."

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Due to negativism all around, we don´t believe anything

Road construction is important for development. Why didn´t the locals support it?

May be we failed to make the people understand the need of the ORR and how the locals would benefit from it. This time we are holding talks with local leaders. They can take the local people into confidence. We hope this time we will be able to gather enough support for the project. As we are going to adapt land pooling system, no people would be displaced due to the project. If at all anyone loses his or her all land, we are going to compensate them with another plot of land.

Will the project really materialize now?

Due to the negativism all around, we do not tend to believe anything. But if you are to believe me, we are going to show results soon. If anything can hinder the project now it is the political influence. But let´s hope for the best.

What other developments are there?

We have reached an agreement to carry out field surveys, land acquisition and consultation services. After this, it will be easier to develop the project. Similarly, we can report that a final report on environment social impact assessment has been forwarded to the environment ministry. Soon we are going to hand over the project to the Kathmandu Valley Development Authority which will carry out the work.

Which section of the road would be constructed at the beginning?

In the beginning, Satungal to Chovar section will be built. Others will follow in a phase wise manner. I hope things will go on very smoothly from the coming fiscal year.