Almost three months after Kathmandu Valley Town Development Centre (KVTDC), the Metropolitan Traffic Police Division (MTPD) and the Department of Roads (DoR) jointly started demolishing portions of houses encroaching on public roads, beside compound walls, pavements and traffic islands, the designs for reconstruction of the newly-widened roads are just being prepared. [break]
The Kathmandu Valley Roads Expansion Project (KVREP) under DoR has hired two consultant agencies for preparing the designs for the Maitighar-Baneshwor-Tinkune road, which forms part of the Araniko highway, the Thirbam road, which connects Dillibazaar with Shital Niwas, and the Kalimati-Kuleshwor-Balkhu road.
According to Shyam Kharel, chief of KVREP, one of the agencies -- BEAM Consultancy -- is likely to submit the final design for Maitighar-Baneshwor-Tinkune road next week. "We expect to receive the designs for the other two roads also soon," says Kharel.
While the design for Thirbam road is also being prepared by BEAM Consultancy, KVREP has awarded the design contract for Kalimati-Kuleshwor-Balkhu road to EcoCode Nepal.
Although KVREP has been tasked with reconstructing five roads altogether, the design for the Bagmati corridor is not being prepared at all while the design for the Kamalpokhari-Ratopul-Gaushala road was readied by the Kathmandu division office under DoR.
"We are yet to hire a consultant agency for developing the Bagmati corridor since it is still not clear when the squatters will be removed from there," Pokharel said. "However, reconstruction work on Kamalpokhari-Ratopul-Gaushala road is in full swing."
Delay in redeveloping the newly-widened roads is partly due to the abrupt start of the expansion work. "We started the work without any detailed plan," says Dr Bhaikaji Tiwari, chief of KVTDP. "Had the planning dragged on, we might not have succeeded to this degree in demolishing the illegally-built structures."
Field work to begin in May
Even after approval of the designs, KVREP requires some more time for awarding the contracts for rebuilding the newly-widened roads through open competition. "We need at least two to three months for completing the bidding process," says Narayan Nihure, project engineer at KVREP.
KVREP is planning to start the actual reconstruction work on the newly-widened roads in May at the earliest. KVREP has sought Rs 700 million for rebuilding Maitighar-Baneshwor-Tinkune road and Thirbum road. "This is just a tentative budget," says KVREF chief Kharel. "The exact cost estimate will be confirmed only after approval of the final designs."
According to Kharel, KVREP plans to develop Maitighar-Baneshwor-Tinkune road into a six-lane stretch with service tracks and pavements on both sides and a median. "The present design will not have flyovers or overhead bridges at any intersection," says Kharel. "However, once the six-lane road is developed, we can build flyovers or overhead bridges at intersections like Baneshwor chowk, Maitighar or Tinkune," he says.
Unlike Maitighar-Baneshwor-Tinkune, the Thirbum road will have only two lanes.
Finalization of the design for Kalimati-Kuleshwor-Balkhu road is in limbo as KVTDC is not yet done with demolishing illegally-built structures. The Supreme Court has issued a stay order on demolition of properties on this road.
-- Project completion by next fiscal year-end --
KVREP says it will finish redeveloping at least two of the newly-widened roads by the end of next fiscal year. "If everything goes as planned, the Maitighar-Baneshwor-Tinkune and Thirbum roads will be redeveloped within the next 17 months," says Kharel.
However, for KVREP to finish the reconstruction on time, there should be timely allocation of the budget, support from other government agencies like Nepal Telecom (NTC), Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) and Kathmandu Upatyaka Khanepani Limited (KUKL), and no political interference.
At a meeting of various agencies concerned two weeks ago, officials from NTC, NEA and KUKUL had expressed commitment to bear the cost of relocating telephone lines, electricity poles, and water pipes. "It will be very helpful if NTC, NEA and KUKL finish their work before we begin our field work," says Kharel.
Although KVTDC, MTPD and DoR have widened almost 13 kilometers of road through demolition of illegally-built frastructures, KVREP is expanding only six kilometers -- 2.6 km Maitighar-Tinkune road and 3.4 km Thirbum road -- by the end of next fiscal year.
Who will take responsibility for redeveloping the other roads? "As far as roads over 16-meters wide are concerned, DoR will take charge of the reconstruction. KVREP will be given responsibility for redeveloping other bigger roads as well in the days to come," says KVTDP chief Dr Tiwari.
According to Dr Tiwari, Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC) is responsible for redeveloping smaller roads. "Sadly, KMC has not acted in sync with our road-expansion work," he adds.
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