Kamala-Pathlaiya road project granted approval for tree management

By Rabindra Uprety, Bardibas, Aug 1: Approval has finally been granted for the management of trees along the 130-kilometre Kamala-Pathlaiya section of the East-West Highway, which is being upgraded. However, since work is progressing at a turtle’s pace even after the approval, it remains unclear when the trees will actually be cut. The problem, therefore, persists.

After the Department of Forests and Soil Conservation issued a letter on July 7, granting approval to remove 31,529 trees in accordance with the approved Environmental Management Plan, it was expected that the process of tree management along the Kamala-Dhalkebar-Pathlaiya road project located in Gairidanda would finally gain momentum.

According to Chhabilal Paudel, chief of the eastern section of the project, the road upgradation work has not been able to progress as expected due to a lack of tree management.

The project had been trying to get approval for tree cutting for the past two years. Although the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) was approved back in 2024/2025 AD, the cutting order has only just been issued.

With a loan assistance of 1.86 billion from the World Bank, the upgrading work of the eastern section has simultaneously started from three locations—Kamala Bridge West, Badahari in Dhanusha district, and Phuljor in Sarlahi—since January 1, 2025.

Currently, the two-lane East-West Highway is planned to be upgraded to 31 meters wide with six lanes in urban and market areas, in part with Asian standards. In other areas, the upgrading work will widen the road to 18 meters with four lanes, including a median. The contract for this project is expected to be finalised soon.

For this, EKK Infrastructure Limited IndiaSWEJ and Rasuwa Construction Company (RCC) Joint Venture is working on the section from Kamala Bridge to Badahari, while the sections Badahari–Phuljor and Phuljor–Bagmati are being handled by the Chinese company Shaanxi Water Resources and Hydropower Engineering Group Co. Ltd., China and Rasuwa Construction Company Pvt. Ltd., Nepal Joint Venture. 

Even though work has started, the contractor companies are frustrated due to various obstacles and hindrances within the road jurisdiction.

This project, which is supposed to be completed by 2027 AD, has already passed six months. During this period, at least 15 per cent of the work should have been completed. However, due to obstacles such as trees and poles along the road, only 10 per cent of the work has been done, project chief Paudel stated.

He said, "To accelerate construction, the trees along the roadside have been the biggest obstacle. This has also caused problems in managing the electric poles."

Mainly due to the trees, the contractor companies have put the road upgrading work on hold and started constructing new bridges instead. Out of the 34 bridges and 100 culverts to be built in the Kamala–Bagmati eastern section, work has been completed on only 15 bridges and 17 culverts so far.

Paudel said, “Due to the trees, there was insufficient space for diversion, which prevented progress on the remaining bridge and culvert work.”

Even though the order from the department has come after a long wait, the situation does not seem ready for immediate tree cutting.

Jagannath Prasad Jaiswal, Forest Director of Madhesh Province, said that although the department has issued the cutting order, additional time will be needed as processes like marking and stamping are still pending before the actual tree cutting can begin.

Paudel stated that discussions have taken place with Sarlahi and Dhanusha districts to complete the remaining procedures for tree cutting, and efforts are underway to initiate talks with the other districts as well.