KATHMANDU : The newly completed 10.5km Kalanki-Koteshwor section of the Ring Road was handed over to Nepal government without building a bicycle lane.
Chinese Ambassador to Nepal Hou Yanqi handed over the project to Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli on Monday. China Shanghai Group started the road expansion project in June 2013. However, the new eight-lane road has made the water-drain as sidewalks let along bicycle-lane. The drain covering lid has many holes.
The initial plan to build bicycle lane in the Ring Road was put on the back burner during its implementation. After the road project was handed over without building the bicycle-lane, environment expert Bhushan Tuladhar wrote on twitter: “We were elated when the government said there will be a separate bicycle lane in Ring Road. We were also considering naming it as ‘Dr Pralad Yonzon cycle lane’. The agreement with China also mentions cycle-lane, footpath, and bus stop. But China handed over ‘death trap’ to us yesterday.”
Similarly, many other faults have been found in Ring Road that could pose threat of accidents. Former Traffic Police Inspector Sita Ram Hachhethu say the lack of traffic light, road light, bus stops, and enough zebra-crossings will add to the problems.
Deputy Director General of Foreign Cooperation Division at the Department of Roads, Keshav Sharma said Nepal government will do the necessary improvement. “The land between drain and service can be utilized as green area,” he said. “Road divider would be installed soon.”
The newly improved 10.5 km Kalanki-Koteshwor stretch of the Ring Road including the underpass at Kalanki was handed over. It took around five years to complete the 10 km stretch of the 27-km Ring Road.
