Lumbini Road Network Master Plan reaches final stage

By Our Correspondent,Butwal, Dec. 16: The Provincial Road Network Master Plan of Lumbini Province has reached its final stage.

According to Bhumiswar Dhakal, the Minister for Physical Infrastructure Development of Lumbini Province, after the Council of Ministers approves the master plan, it will come into implementation. 

Minister Dhakal said that due to the lack of a master plan, the budget was scattered during the road construction which failed to yield results, so the drafting of the master plan reached the final stage to avoid such irregularities.

According to the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure Development, the Lumbini Provincial Government enacted a law in 2077 BS (2020 AD) to regulate the construction, maintenance and expansion of roads. The Ministry further explained that the provincial government has now begun the implementation of the Provincial Road Master Plan in line with this act.

In the past four months, significant progress has been made, including the completion of eight concrete bridges, blacktopping of 20 kilometres of road and adding two suspension bridges. Minister Dhakal also mentioned that he had directed all construction work to be completed by May/June to avoid the tendency of initiating the development work at the last minute.

The Ministry is currently overseeing 2,120 projects for the current fiscal year, 84 of which are multi-year projects, according to Secretary at the Ministry Bhimarjun Pandey.

As of now, 38 projects have been completed in the last four months, while 779 are in the implementation phase. Among these, 289 projects are under construction.

In terms of road development, 20 kilometres of roads have been blacktopped in the first four months of this fiscal year. Additionally, the blacktopping of a 10-kilometre stretch is in the final stage and a new 6-kilometre road track has been opened. Furthermore, 24 kilometres of roads have been extended and 6 kilometres have been gravelled.