The 10-km Koteshwor-Kalanki road expansion project has been pushed back by a year due to multiple factors like shortage of construction materials, last year’s earthquakes and subsequent Indian trade embargo that triggered acute fuel shortages.

The Rs5.27-billion project, which started in June 2013, was scheduled to be completed by 2017. “As the project works have been affected for nearly a year, we expect it will be completed by 2018,” said Pradip Shrestha, spokesperson for the Division Road Office, Lalitpur. “The works have picked up pace since January.”

Under the project, the existing two-lane road will be expanded to eight lanes with separate carriageways, service tracks, green belts, bicycle lanes and footpaths on either sides.

Shrestha said the project plans to complete construction of four bridges at Balkumari, Balkhu, Kalanki before this year’s monsoon. After that, the project will start blacktopping works and complete three overhead bridges at Koteshwor, Dhobighat and Satdobato.

According to officials at the Kathmandu Ring Road Improvement Project, work of opening track on either side of the road is more than 50 percent complete. Likewise, 40 percent of wall construction, 30 percent of drainage construction and 40 percent of pavement construction works have been completed. Shrestha said construction of an underpass at Kalanki will start by this September.

In December 2012, the Department of Roads and Chinese contractor Shanghai Construction Group Company had signed an agreement for the improvement of the 10-km Ring Road stretch. The Chinese company had started the works in June 2013.

Kalanki-Koteshwor is the first phase of the 27km Ring Road improvement project under Chinese funding. According to government officials, after the completion of the first phase, it is expected to take 10 years to upgrade the remaining 17km Kalanki-Chabahil-Koteshwor section.

According to Shrestha, after 85 percent work of the first phase is completed, China is “highly likely” to respond to fund the 17km second phase. “We have not yet estimated the cost for the second phase, but it is likely to be more than Rs10 billion.”

The Ring Road, which runs through Kathmandu and Lalitpur districts and also touches Bhaktapur district, was originally built by the Chinese in 1970s.