Minister for Physical Infrastructures and Transport Prakash Jwala said the expansion of the road network is the first and foremost priority of the incumbent government.
Responding to the queries raised by the parliamentarians in the meeting of the House of Representatives on Sunday, Minister Jwala reiterated that the incumbent government was working towards delivering on the expansion of road network projects within the stipulated time.
Maintenance of road has been accorded top priority for which budget would be availed through the Road Board, the Minister said, adding that the sick projects would be taken forward in a new modality while contract with erring contractors would be repealed. He further shared that some new arrangements were put in place to ensure good-governance in the transportation sector such as easy process for obtaining driving license, swift process for license renewal among others while the license's validity period has been extended till 10 years from the existing five years.
Jwala shared that over Rs 41 billion was allocated to the Madhesh Province for the upcoming fiscal year 2023/24 for construction of physical infrastructures in the province.
On a different note, the Minister refuted that there was biasness in the budget allocation in districts. He denied that some districts received disproportionately high budget. "If we look at the total budget of the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport, there is no such situation of disproportionate allocation of the budget," he explained.
Stating that the budget ceiling of the Ministry had reduced by Rs 37 billion in the current fiscal year, he, however, informed that it was very difficult to strike a balance in the budget.
Minister Jwala added that Humla's district headquarters Simikot would be connected to the national road network by the next fiscal year and construction of Karnali Corridor would be accelerated.
Furthermore, Bheri Corridor, Karnali Highway, road projects in Surkhet, Dailekh, Kalikot, Dolpa, Mugu and Jumla districts were highly prioritized and the budget was allocated accordingly. The attention of the Ministry was drawn towards the low budget allocated for East-West Railway, Jaynagar Janakpur Rail and Kathmandu Metro Rail. Meanwhile, the Railway Board has been scrapped to avoid the duplication of work while running those agencies despite the obligation to continue with the development works by mobilizing the limited financial resources.
The Transport Management Department has implemented a scientific fair rate system since May 17 this year. The new fair rate was based on various 13 parameters determined in participation of stakeholders, said the Minister.
Embossed number plates would be published in the devnagari script for which the existing law was revised. According to him, the incumbent government was committed to promoting electric vehicles.
Furthermore, the Minister shared that the road safety audit was being implemented to minimize road accidents. He expressed his remorse for not being able to address the demands of all due to budget constraints.
He, however, assured to take forward development of physical infrastructures and address development related concerns.
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