Over six years into the construction of the Kathmandu-Tarai Expressway, Nepal Army has completed a little over a quarter of the project that has a price tag of over Rs200 billion.

The army in August 2017 started work on the national pride project with a plan to complete it in four years. With the project moving ahead at a snail's pace, the government in August 2021 extended the completion deadline to December 2024.

After assessing that the highway would not be ready by the extended deadline, the government further stretched the completion time till April 2027. However, given the sluggish progress in construction, even the army leadership is not confident of the project’s completion three years later.

Presenting a progress report to the State Affairs and Good Governance Committee of the House of Representatives, Chief of Army Staff Prabhu Ram Sharma said it would be impossible to complete the project in 2027 without revising the existing Forest Act and the Land Acquisition Act.

“We have been asked to work on the fast track but the laws from the 1950’s. If relevant laws are not in place on time, I cannot assure the project’s completion in 2027,” he said. “It would be an achievement even if just the track is ready and motor vehicles can ply the road by the deadline. After that, it will take two or three years more to complete the project.”

At Wednesday’s meeting, the army leadership blamed the executive and the legislature for the delayed work. It takes nine months to get clearance to cut down four trees on the project site, he said. “We have been unable to clear the trees that I showed to the prime minister and the defence minister at the project side months ago,” Sharma said.

He also pointed to the problems in acquiring land in the Khokana and Nijgadh areas, caused by the “problematic” provisions in the acquisition Act. “The money that land owners are asking for is much higher than what the government is willing to give. Acquiring private land has been a huge challenge. This is another factor for the delay,” General Sharma explained.

Some residents of Khokana, a traditional Newar settlement in southern Lalitpur, have charged the government with sullying their religious heritage, livelihood and indigenous identity by acquiring the land for multiple development projects, including the expressway. The other projects in their locality are the Outer Ring Road Development Project, the Bagmati Corridor, a Satellite City, and a high-tension power line. They have been demanding a relocation of the entry point of the highway.

As per the army’s report card, the physical progress of the 70.97-kilometre project stands at just 28.56 kilometres since construction began in August 2017. The army has spent Rs52.86 billion on the highway whose revised estimated cost is Rs212 billion.

The parliamentary committee had summoned the army leadership to inquire why the project’s progress had been so slow. The committee members said slow construction had raised questions about the army’s capacity and role.

“At the current pace, it will take another 10 years to complete the project,” said Buddhi Man Tamang, a Rastriya Prajatantra Party lawmaker, questioning the capacity of the national defence force to undertake such mega projects. Other lawmakers, including Raghuji Pant of the CPN-UML, asked if the army would complete the project within the given time frame or if the project needed further extension.

The lawmakers even said it was time to think about whether the army should be involved in physical infrastructure. “A serious question has been raised about whether the army should be involved in developing infrastructure projects by going beyond its defined duties,” said Gagan Thapa, a Nepali Congress lawmaker.

Not happy with the remarks, Sharma even went on to say, “The army didn’t ask for the project, it was you [political leadership] who gave [us] the responsibility.”

Delays in the preparation and approval of the Detailed Project Report, India’s denial to give explosives, the Covid-19 pandemic and the unavailability of construction materials are the other reasons the army cited for the sluggish progress.

After listening to the army leadership, the committee has decided to summon the prime minister, the defence minister and other ministers concerned to discuss the issue and explore ways to clear hindrances in implementing the highway project that will connect Kathmandu with Nijgadh in Bara district in around an hour.

The Kathmandu-Nijgadh expressway was first conceptualised in the mid-1990s. But it failed to take off for almost a decade and a half. The government revived the project in 2013 and two years later, the Indian consortium of Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services Transportation Networks, IL&FS Engineering and Construction, and Suryavir Infrastructure Construction won the project bid in February 2015.

But in October the same year, the Supreme Court ordered a halt to preparations to award the project to the Indian developer. A year later, in December 2016, the government cancelled all agreements with the Indian company. In the first week of May 2017, the Nepal Army was given the project.