With the final breakthrough of the Nagdhunga-Sisnekhola tunnel on Monday, Nepal, as Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal said, has entered the “tunnel age”. The breakthrough, in what is the first tunnel road in Nepal, is indeed a landmark achievement in infrastructure development. Considering its utility in a country like ours with hilly terrains, the tunnel has become a symbol of hope, and is rightly the talk of the town. There are also renewed hopes among the citizens that the other tunnel road projects will soon make headway. Another important tunnel road project in Siddhababa, Palpa, is underway, and almost two dozen similar projects are being discussed. We have big dreams about tunnels becoming conduits of prosperity.

But big dreams come with big budgets. The Nagdhunga tunnel project cost Rs22 billion, a significant investment made possible with a soft loan from the Japanese government. This means that despite their obvious utility, tunnels are not a practical solution to our development problems. Beyond the euphoria of the breakthrough in one project, we have dozens of other projects lagging and causing significant loss to the lives and health of the citizens, apart from running down the government’s coffers. Travellers plying the Butwal-Narayangadh route have for years been complaining of having to take treacherous, long journeys, while locals along the route bemoan health hazards from the never-ending construction.

Similar is the case of the Mugling-Pokhara and the Bhaktapur-Dhulikhel roads, among others. Even the second phase of Kathmandu Valley Ring Road expansion has been marred by long delays even as the road remains in dilapidated condition. The whole of Kathmandu valley looks like a bowl of dust as road projects here simply do not end—and there is little effort to settle the dust as well. Roads torn open and left unattended for months, even years, are now a national problem. The dust and dirt on our roads expose our inefficiency in infrastructure development. Apart from the insensitivity about the health and life of citizens on the part of project developers, we have also been suffering from seemingly interminable delays in the very course of development.

A delayed road project means a delay in reaping the benefits of development. Such delays are ubiquitous, with the Kathmandu-Nijgadh expressway being the prime example. It should have been ready two years ago, but there is still no certainty over its completion at the hands of the Nepal Army, which has now set a new deadline of April 2027, which, too, could easily be missed. As we celebrate the success of one tunnel, we must consider how we have failed in others across the country. It is time the government expedited work on the existing road projects by removing familiar roadblocks, including lack of efficient planning and monitoring, unavailability of manpower and lack of coordination between various stakeholders, primarily government agencies themselves. Only then can we reap the benefits of holistic development. Otherwise, embarking on a bumpy ride right after exiting the Nagdhunga tunnel would be no fun.