Road connectivity, drinking water accessibility improve
Despite political instability, the country has made some progress in improving road connectivity and drinking water accessibility, especially in rural areas, in the last three years.
Construction of about 3,000 km of rural roads, more than 100 small- and medium-sized bridges and more than 1,000 drinking water projects was completed over the period.
These infrastructures were developed under the Department of Local Infrastructure Development and Agricultural Road (DoLIDAR) under the Ministry of Local Development. “The country witnessed a marked improvement in rural road connectivity,” said Bhupendra Bahadur Basnet, general manager of the department. “With the addition of 3,000 km of rural roads, the country now has agriculture road network of 40,000 km.”
Top priority given by the government, donor agencies and local bodies gave to road infrastructure development made this achievement possible. The Department of Road claims that these roads are technically fit for operation as they were constructed after conducting proper technical planning and survey.
According to the Ministry of Local Development, there are nearly nine projects being undertaken in the area of road development. All the 75 districts have benefited in one way or the other from such projects.
This figure does not include the statistics of roads constructed with the grant given to local governments or local people’s contribution. Basnet said if such statistics are included, the length of the rural road network reaches to more than 50,000 km. Given the grants given to VDCs are being used for rural roads, the VDCs can be assumed to have constructed about 10,000 km of dirt roads, according to Basnet. “Roads constructed in absence of engineers cannot be said risk free, though,” he said.
Improved road connectivity has boosted economic activities. “Activities such as commercial farming, other infrastructure development and investment have increased, said Bhim Uphadayay, deputy general manager of DoLIDAR. “People’s access to other services such as schools and hospitals has also increased.”
The recently unveiled result of the Nepal Living Standard Survey III also revealed that Nepalis’ access to different facilities has improved in the last seven years.
As per the annual report of DoLIDAR, around 800,000 people are benefiting from 800 drinking water projects and 4,500 suspension bridges, among others. “People’s reach to education, health, employment and transportation has also improved,” Uphadayay said.
Although the road network witnessed a rapid development, only 17,000 km of the roads can be used throughout the year due to geographical condition, lack of bridges and maintenance. According to Senior Divisional Engineer Jeevan Shrestha, lack of bridges has been a major obstacle for continued operation roads. “Due to lack of bridges, many roads can be operated only during winters,” he said. Currently, the country lacks an estimated 500 small bridges.
Posted on: 2011-08-21 09:34
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