All major roads will be repaired before Tihar: Minister Jwala

KATHMANDU: Minister for Physical Infrastructure and Transport, Prakash Jwala, has stated that the government will repair all major roads damaged due to monsoon rains before the Tihar festival, which begins in a fortnight.

Speaking at the meeting of the Infrastructure Development Committee of the House of Representatives on Monday, Jwala mentioned that repair work on major highways and roads in the Kathmandu Valley has already been completed.

However, committee members such as Pradeep Poudel, Thakur Gaire, Shiva Nepali, Bina Lama, Dr. CK Raut, Dayal Bahadur Shahi, Niha Danghi, and Pratima Gautam, among others, drew the government’s attention to the difficulties passengers had to endure while traveling on major roads like Narayanghat-Butwal, Mugling-Nagdhunga, and Siddhartha Highway during the Dashain celebration.

Nepali Congress lawmaker Pradip Poudel said people were suffering as the government is extending contracts for various road construction and upgrading projects instead of penalizing the contractors for the delay. Committee chair Deepak Bahadur Singh also said dusty roads were taking a toll on passengers. “I request Minister Jwala to find a long-term solution to the problem,” he said in the meeting.

Lawmakers raised the issue in the committee meeting on Monday following complaints about the sorry conditions of major highways on different social media platforms. One passenger shared on social media platform X, previously Twitter, that it took more than 16 hours to reach Pokhara from Kathmandu (200 km).

Former finance secretary Rameshore Khanal also took to X to share his experience of using the Butwal-Narayanghat road. “Butwal-Narayanghat trip is a curse,” he wrote.

Butwal-Narayanghat trip is a curse. DoR, here, is at height of its inefficiency and sheer lack of public accountability!

— Rameshore Khanal (@rameshore) October 29, 2023