Govt starts work on fifth east-west road project

KATHMANDU: The government has begun a feasibility study for the proposed East-West Himalayan Tourist Highway, Nepal’s fifth east-west road project.

Minister for Infrastructure Development Sunil Lamsal said the feasibility study would initially cover two sections: Api Nampa-Saipal-Badimalika of 105 kilometers and Num-Pathibhara of 45 kilometers.

The Api Nampa-Saipal-Badimalika section is in the Sudurpashchim Province, while the Num-Pathibhara section is in the Koshi Province.

According to Minister Lamsal, the Nepal Infrastructure Construction Company Limited (NICCL) and the Department of Roads (DoR) have signed an agreement to conduct feasibility studies for the two sections. “The government has introduced the Himalayan Tourist Highway as a new initiative to link Nepal’s mountain regions with tourism through improved infrastructure,” he added.

Under the agreement, the NICCL will study the technical, economic, social and environmental aspects of the proposed road sections to establish the basis for taking the project forward.

This will be the country’s fifth east-west highway after the East-West Highway, Hulaki (Postal) Highway, Mid-Hills Highway and Madan Bhandari Highway. Of them, the East-West Highway has been completed and is being upgraded to four lanes as per the Asian Highway standard, while the remaining three are in different phases of development.

The East-West Highway, which runs through the Tarai connecting Kakarbhitta in the east to Gaddachauki in the west, is currently being upgraded into a four-lane motorway. The Hulaki Highway, which sits below the East-West Highway and also runs across the southern plains, is under construction. The Mid-Hills Highway, which is designed to connect Chyangthapu in Panchthar district in the east with Jhulaghat in Baitadi district in the west through the country’s mid-hills region, is another east-west road project. The Madan Bhandari Highway, which runs between the East-West Highway and the Mid-Hills Highway, has been designed as an alternative to the East-West Highway.