Intensify Fast Track Construction

Mega development projects in Nepal are rarely completed on time as they face numerous hitches like a lack of necessary coordination among different relevant government agencies. A dearth of laws, clear policies and strong political will also hinder the implementation of projects. Such projects cannot advance in a smooth manner in the absence of proper planning and designing as well. In addition, the tendency of the local people to obstruct infrastructure projects on one pretext or the other is equally responsible for their snail-paced execution. Amid these impediments, major projects often reel from time and cost overrun, triggering a huge financial burden for the country. 

Herculean task

Considered as a game changer in surface connectivity between Kathmandu and Nijgadh in the mid-Terai belt, the Kathmandu-Terai Fast Track Project may have a similar fate as several other national pride projects, including the Melamchi Water Supply Project and Sikta Irrigation Project. The 70.9-km road project has so far accomplished just 28.56 per cent physical progress. Looking at this insignificant achievement made during the past six and a half years, the expressway project is not likely to conclude even within its extended deadline. With the extension of its timeline, the four-lane road project is supposed to be completed by April 2027. The Nepali Army (NA) has been carrying out this important project. But the NA itself is not certain about its timely completion. Even if the NA intensifies the implementation of the project, it may be a Herculean task for it to complete the remaining 71.44 per cent work in the next three years or so. 

The government decided to assign the NA to construct this expressway in the beginning of May 2017. However, the security agency began working on the project formally only after the erstwhile Ministry of Physical Planning and Works handed it over to it in the second week of August 2017. Initially, the government had targeted to finish the project by the end of December 2024. As the process of project implementation has failed to gain desired momentum since the beginning owing to various factors ranging from the COVID-19 pandemic, disruptions in the supply of explosives, delay in getting the supplementary environmental impact assessment (EIA) and the revised detailed project report (DPR) to unavailability of the required laws, the government took a decision in April this year to extend the deadline of the project by three more years until mid-April 2027. Along with this, the project’s estimated cost has gone up to about Rs. 213 billion. 

With continuous deferrals in inking contracts for various construction packages, the project is not going to get through within the extended timeline. And the project may undergo additional cost overrun. The project had been conceptualised more than one and a half decades back. However, it took years for the government to enter into project implementation. The government’s original idea was to materialise the project under a ‘build, own, operate and transfer’ (BOOT) model. But the plan fell through as the government could not find a suitable development partner to execute it.   

A feasibility study that was conducted in 2008 by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) had projected the cost of the project to hover around Rs. 67 billion. The project was supposed to complete within four years. In 2014, another study estimated Rs. 96.88 billion as the cost of the project. With the passage of time, the cost estimates of the project seem to have continued to increase. In 2016, India’s state-funded infrastructure development and finance company, Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services Limited (IL&FS), prepared a detailed project report on the Expressway. As per the report, the estimated project cost rose to Rs. 212 billion. Saying that the cost was very high, the government made up its mind to execute the project by mobilising its own resources. Since the NA was involved in opening tracks even in difficult terrains, the government assigned the former to take up the task of fast track construction. The government must have thought that the NA would work in a more transparent manner and conclude the project within the stipulated timeframe. 

But things could not move on efficiently because there was no good coordination among various bodies. Issues related to the acquisition of land and the felling of trees appear to have been one of the major obstacles to the implementation of the project.  The project has been unable to settle the problem concerning the starting point of the fast track due to the constant opposition from the locals of Khokna. This matter must be resolved without delay to avoid possible cost and time overrun resulting from project extension. The state affairs and good governance committee under the House of Representatives has taken the slow progress of the Expressway construction seriously. The House panel has instructed the government, the NA and other pertinent agencies to play their respective roles effectively so as to accelerate the highway construction. 

Lack of laws

Recently, the parliamentary committee also enquired the Chief of Army Staff Prabhu Ram Sharma about the progress of the Fast Track Project. At the meeting, Sharma bluntly said that the project could not make satisfactory progress owing to a lack of laws. “We have failed to cut down four trees from the project site for the last nine months,” he said.

This situation is a clear indication that even the responsible agencies have not performed their duties dependably. However, upon its completion, this expressway will help improve road connectivity between Kathmandu and Terai. It will also reduce travel times from more than five hours to a bit more than an hour. As the government is planning to build an international airport in Nijgadh, the expressway projects holds much importance.  

The government must deal with all the existing problems and challenges so as to complete the expressway construction within the deadline. Learning a lesson from the persistent delay in the execution of this and other national pride projects, all the development stakeholders, including the government, need to review their working styles seriously to ensure that no upcoming development projects will incur budget and time overrun.

(The author is a former deputy executive editor of this daily.)