The announcement of  Outer Ring Road in Kathmandu Valley in the budget has rekindled hopes for the project first proposed in 2005 that fell into a moribund state three years later due to disagreement over compensation amount proposed for land acquisition.

The government has pledged to release a budget of Rs 100 million in the upcoming fiscal to resume the stalled groundwork of the project that aims to develop a 72-km beltway to ease the traffic congestion problem.

The project chief, Rama Maiya Manandhar, said they will push the land pooling work more aggressively, so that they could go to the construction phase. The project has completed the land pooling of only 6.68 km-stretch between Chobhar and Satungal so far.

Eight years ago, the government had offered Rs 700,000 per ropani of land as compensation. The offer had been widely rejected by the landowners, who valued their land 10 times more than the price quoted by the government. Disagreement over compensation has hindered the project development since.

Manandhar said they are positive about the project progressing from the upcoming fiscal year. “We have been conducting research on how to carry out the land pooling in old settlements such as Lubu, Khokana, Bungmati, Chovar, Tokha  and Kirtipur. We will resume our works from this year.”

When the project was announced, the estimated budget stood at Rs 6.36 billion. The increase in land value over the years could push the budget.

Bhai Kaji Tiwari, chief executive officer of Kathmandu Valley Development Authority,  said they are planning to convene a meeting to decide how to take ahead the project. “This is an important project for the valley’s development, which our political leaders and the locals must understand,” he said.