The road expansion drive revived by the Valley authorities has reached Tinkune. According to the Kathmandu Valley Development Authority, it has finished demolishing illegal structures from Subidhanagar to Sahayoginagar which were found to encroach upon roads.

“As we have to expand streets all over the Valley, the buildings or parts of the buildings which are on the right of way of roads have to be demolished,” Deputy Development Commissioner at KVDA Bhai Kaji Tiwari said.

The KVDA has already expanded 200 kilometre road in Kathmandu , 30km in Lalitpur and 7km in Bhaktapur so far. According to Tiwari, plans are afoot to further expand sections of the 9-km Jorpati-Sankhu road and the 12-km Tripureshwor-Kalanki-Nagdhunga road.

Roads in Kathmandu Valley are narrow with most inner city neighbourhoods being linked just by alleyways. This causes traffic congestion and is also a threat in cases of emergencies as support vehicles such as fire trucks cannot pass them.

The new guidelines on settlement development, urban planning and building construction brought out after the earthquakes last year make it mandatory for roads in new settlements to be at least six metre wide for owners to get building permits while roads in the existing settlements should be at least four metre wide. But these apply only to new buildings in the overpopulated city.

The road expansion drive was started in 2011 by then-prime minister Baburam Bhattarai. Tiwari said that more than 60 percent of road expansion has been complete. “Although we faced opposition from homeowners when we demolished their illegal structures in the past, they are not so gung ho now after the earthquake,” Tiwari said. “There is no alternative to pulling down structures that have been built violating the set standards.”