In a bid to control dust pollution and traffic congestion in the Capital, the Central Regional Road Directorate (CRRD) under the Department of Roads has decided to blacktop 80-km road sections in the Valley within five months. 

According Director at the CRRD Shiva Hari Sapkota, the directorate has blacktopped 19km road sections in the Valley in the past one month. Out of the 371km road sections that need to be blacktopped, the DoR has completed 151km.

Sapkota assured that the 700-meter Tripureshwor-Teku stretch would be blacktopped within ten days. The road section is notorious for traffic jam and pollution throughout the day time.

The Project Implementation Directorate (PID) under the Kathmandu Upatyaka Khanapani Limited (KUKL), which on Wednesday started paving on the right side of the Tripureshwor-Teku section of the road, said it would expedite works of blacktopping the portions of the dug-up road for the pipe laying task.

According to officials at the KUKL, it has laid 634km of pipelines out of the total 670km for the water supply in the Valley. The blacktopping works have been completed at Maharajgunj, Chabahil, Koteshwor and Patan, said Spokesperson for the PID Leela Prasad Dhakal, adding the remaining blacktopping works in Gaushala area would be completed by Saturday.

In the past one month, the DoR has blacktopped 2.2-km Chabahil-Dhobikola stretch, 3-km Lainchaur-Lazimpat-Maharajgunj section, Satdobato-Dholahati-Chapagaun road. Besides, the blacktopping works on the Maitighar-Bijulibazaar section as well as the inner sections around Koteshwor-Mahadevsthan area, Panchakumari Marg in New Baneshwor have been completed, according to the DoR. 

However, the CRRD said the works on the 5-km section between Kalanki and Nagdhunga have been pending due to a Supreme Court stay order, Sapkota told the Post, adding that the blacktopping of the remaining 4-km road stretch would be completed in two months. “We have already requested the Nepal Electricity Authority to shift 72 electric poles and two transformers along the road. Once they are removed, we will start blacktopping that stretch,” he said. 

The Nagdhunga-Kalanki road extension project, which was started in 2015, is far from over yet. The road section witnesses congestions every day, with around 8,000 public and private vehicles being affected. Besides, a high level of dust pollution has remained a big health risk for people living in Mathatirtha, Gurjudhara, Thankot and Tribhuvan Park areas.