Bhaktapur-Dhulikhel road expansion process started

The process has been started to extend the road from Suryavinayak in Bhaktapur to Dhulikhel in Kavrepalanchok under Araniko Highway. For this, a detailed study report (DPR) has been started for Suryavinayak-Dhulikhel, Dhulikhel-Sindhuli-Bardibas road project.

The project is also designing the road along with the DPR. It will go to the bid as soon as the DPR and road design work is completed. The project has already issued a 35-day public notice to remove the structures within the road standards in the first week of Shrawan for the extension of the Suryabinayak-Dhulikhel road.

Shambhu Prasad Acharya, Divisional Engineer of the project, informed that DPR has been started as a 'Consultant Hire' for the expansion of Suryavinayak-Dhulikhel road. "The design work of the road is going on, we will go to the bidding process as soon as the DPR and design work is completed", he said. According to him, a budget allocation of Rs 70 crore has been made in the current financial year for the expansion of Suryavinayak-Dhulikhel road. Suryavinayak-Dhulikhel road expansion project is a multi-year project.

The construction of the six-lane road will be done by the government. The road department has already started the process for the expansion of the road section as the road traffic has been increasing from Dhulikhel to Bhaktapur for some years. It was indicated that investors would be sought as much as possible for the expansion of the said road, otherwise the government would construct it by itself. The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), which has been showing interest in the expansion of the road section for several years, has already said that it will not do so.

"JICA has only shown interest after the call for tenders, it has already said that it will not work on the extension of the Suryavinayak-Dhulikhel road," he said. The road is about 16 kilometers long. Out of this, Kavre is 10 km long and Bhaktapur is 6 km long. Out of the six lanes that will be constructed during the expansion, four lanes will be for vehicles and two lanes will be service lanes, while sky bridges will be constructed at six locations, bridges and a culvert at four locations. It is also reported that there is a discussion about whether or not to build the proposed 10.29 km tunnel in Sanga, the border area of ​​Bhaktapur and Kavre.

Divisional Engineer Acharya said that it is almost impossible to build the tunnel because it will be very expensive. According to him, the width of the road in the two-lane tunnel should be three and a half meters. MP Gokul Prasad Baskota said that the preliminary study for the project may cost about seven billion rupees.

According to him, 12 years ago JICA, which extended the Tinkune-Suryabinayak road, had estimated that the amount of that amount would be spent excluding the tunnel during the 'design' of the project for Suryabinayak-Dhulikhel road extension. "After the completion of the project, the traffic pressure of Dhulikhel-Bhaktapur will be greatly reduced and another leap will be taken in road expansion," he said.

After studying Suryavinayak-Dhulikhel road extension in 2018, JICA submitted the initial design and said that it could not work according to the design in the government's budget. It is said that at that time, JICA had requested the government to reduce the cost even after removing the tunnel plan from the project budget, alleging that there was no agreement. Since then, the government has indicated that it will build itself.

In the financial year 2077-78, the government allocated Rs.1 billion 200 million to start the expansion of the Dhulikhel-Suryavinayak road along with the Kanti Rajpath, and in the previous year's budget, it was mentioned that a detailed study would be done on upgrading to manage the existing traffic pressure in the valley.

Although Divisional Road Office Bhaktapur has been doing work such as tree cutting to clear the road construction site in the year 2076, the work was stopped for some time. Dhulikhel is connected with a short distance from the federal capital to the east through the BP and Pushpalal highways of Madhyapahari under Bagmati province. Citizens of Provinces 1 and 2 travel to and from Kathmandu via Arani Highway. Even after the completion of the road expansion, if the Tatopani of Sindhupalchok, a short distance crossing with China, is opened, it is expected that the traffic on this road section will increase.