They complained that growing traffic has rendered the road congested, unable to support increased movement of passenger vehicles and goods carriers in and out of the city. Since this is only main outlet in the city, all types of vehicles -- rickshaw, bicycle, bullock cart, cars, trucks and buses among others -- ply on it.
While this has long been creating inconvenience to travelers, locals and industries alike, minor accidents on the road further leave them stranded for hours. As a result, entrepreneurs lamented that consignments moving in and out of the factories often get stuck in traffic for hours, slowing their operations and adding cost on business.
"Ring road is still our first preference. But since the project of constructing it is moving nowhere and growing congestion is affecting industrial operations and adding cost to business, we have proposed for the development of the alternative road," Mahesh Jaju, president of Morang Trade Association (MTA), told myrepublica.com.
Industrialists complained that the congestion has mainly affected operations of 550 industries based along the Sunsari-Morang corridor that rely on the road for raw materials and export their outputs. Also because they have to rely on large containers, which are 20 to 40 feet long, narrow road has started to drive away the transporters, aggravating problems for industrialists and traders. According to the MTA, more than 1,000 trucks ply on the road every day.
To do away with the situation, MTA has even proposed the government to construct bypass road along the Jogbani canal to Nemuwa, saying that will best serve the industrial operations.
The sub-metropolis first floated the plan to develop ring road in Biratnagar about a decade ago. The plan was endorsed during the tenure of the then mayor Ashok Koirala. According to the plan, the ring road will be 42 km long and it would completely encircle the city. Though the sub-metropolis has been continuously allocating budget for the construction ever since the plan was floated, it has never actually implemented the program. During the visit of Deputy Prime Minister Bijaya Kumar Gachchhadar earlier this month, the sub-metropolis did lay the foundation stone for the road´s construction.
But given the apathy shown by the sub-metropolis so far, entrepreneurs do not believe that the construction would be completed within a couple of years.
"Hence, we informed Gachchhadar that the immediate construction of bypass road has become very important for us and requested him to take initiatives for alternate road," said Jaju.
The MTA believes that the new infrastructure will not only facilitate business, but also relieve all city dwellers.
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