The government plans to expand the Kakarbhitta-Laukahi section of the East-West Highway starting from the current fiscal year 2022-23 with the Department of Roads initiating the contractor selection process.

The drive is part of the government plan to expand the entire East-West Highway into four lanes from the current two lanes. The government has already started widening some other sections of the highway and plans to expand some others.

Multilateral donor agencies including the Asian Development Bank and the World Bank have pledged to support the expansion of different sections of the vital highway that link the country's eastern border to western border.

“A tender has already been issued for the expansion of the Kakarbhitta-Laukahi section of the highway,” said Sushil Babu Dhakal, chief of project directorate (Asian Development Bank) of the Department of Road. “We are now in the evaluation process of the bidders.”

The Asian Development Bank has pledged $300 million for the expansion of this section of the road whose length is 120 kilometres from Kakarbhitta in Jhapa to Laukahi in Sunsari. But the bids were called for expanding 95 km of this section, according to Dhakal.

According to him, as many as 17 bids have been received so far. The bids were called in a single envelope for both technical and financial evaluations. “We have already opened the technical bids,” said Dhakal. “It may take around 45 days to award the contract.”

The ADB is supporting expansion of this road as part of its South Asia Sub-Regional Cooperation Highway Improvement Project. According to the ADB, the existing road section will be upgraded to an Asian Standard Class I/ Nepal Road Standard Class II.

The road width has been designed in urban areas as 50 metres, in semi urban areas as 33 metres and in rural and forest areas 24 metres. The widening and improvement components will include expansion of 120 kilometres from two lanes to four lanes, pavement upgrading, geometry improvement, junction improvements, service roads on both sides of the road, cycle lanes, footpaths in urban areas, pedestrian crossing (overhead bridges/underpass) and wildlife crossings designs.

The other components are construction of new bridges, drainage improvement, retaining structures, slope protection and stabilisation, other off-road works, and bus bays/lay byes and installation of adequate road safety measures.

The road expansion work is undergoing between Kanchanpur in Saptari to Kamala in Siraha on the East-West Highway. In October 2018, the ADB had approved the loans of $180 million to expand the 87km long road to four lanes. “Construction work is currently underway in this section of road,” said Dhakal.

Though the widening of this road was supposed to be completed in 2022 initially, Covid-19 related restrictions affected the works, according to the Department of Roads.

There has been no significant progress in the expansion of the Narayanghat-Butwal Road either—also a part of the East-West Highway expansion project.

In November 2019, China State Construction Engineering Corporation Limited, the contractor for this section of the road, had formally started the work in the field. Though the original deadline of widening the road from current two lanes to six was on August 7, physical progress of the work has remained less than 20 percent, according to the road department. The road offices under the department extended the deadline by another 386 days.

Likewise, the World Bank has also pledged support to widen a number of sections of the East-West Highway. According to Ram Hari Pokharel, deputy director general at the department, a detailed design is being prepared with the assistance of the World Bank to expand the Kamala-Pathalaiya section of the highway. The length of Kamala (Siraha) to Pathlaiya (Bara) is 130 kilometres. “We plan to invite for contractor selection to widen this road by the end of current fiscal year,” said Pokharel, who is also chief of the foreign aid implementation section at the department.

In June 2020, the World Bank approved a loan package of $450 million to improve the Kamala-Dhalkebar-Pathlaiya road section of the East-West Highway along with the Nagdhunga-Naubise-Mugling road section of the Prithvi Highway. According to the World Bank, both road sections are crucial to Nepal’s connectivity and trade with India and other countries. The World Bank is providing support as part of its Nepal Strategic Road Connectivity and Trade Improvement Project.

On the other hand, the project to upgrade the Pathalaiya-Narayagadh section of the East-West Highway is being designed with the support of the ADB, Dhakal said. “We plan to implement this project starting from fiscal year 2024-2025,” said Dhakal.

Design work of upgrading the 50km Butwal-Gorusinge section of the East-West Highway has been done with the support of the ADB. “But the World Bank is helping to upgrade this road based on the design prepared with the support of the ADB,” said Pokharel. “Contract will soon be awarded for this project.”

The expansion work will reach Chaudrauta, about 19km west from Gorusingle, according to Pokharel.

The upgrade of the East-West Highway from Dhankhola to Shivakhola (Banke) will be done with the aid of the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), a US aid agency. “But this section will not be a standard four-lane road like the others,” said Pokharel.

Project cooperation agreement was signed between the Department of Road and Millennium Challenge Accounts, an agency formed to implement the MCC project.

But there has been no certainty on upgrading the road section Shiva Khola (Banke) to Gadda Chauki border point (Kanchanpur district), according to Pokharel. “The bridge section of the road department is currently studying this section,” he said.