ADB's $305 Million Highway Package Sends 87% to One Road, Not Three

The Asian Development Bank has approved $305.75 million, about Rs 47 billion, to upgrade three Nepal highways, Republica reported on Sunday, October 11. Read past the headline figure and the money is not spread evenly.

Of the total, $245 million goes to widening a single 70 kilometer stretch, the Narayanghat-Hetaunda section of the East-West Highway, to four lanes, Republica reported. A further $20 million grant pays for a 2 kilometer viaduct through the Tikauli forest on that same stretch. Add the two together and one corridor through Makwanpur and Chitwan gets about $265 million, roughly 87 percent of the entire package. Nobody travelling the East-West, Prithvi or Karnali highways this Dashain will see a difference.

The Karnali Highway, named alongside the other two in the ADB package Republica described, gets the remaining $10 million, Republica reported. The Kathmandu Post reported that the funding will also cover road safety and maintenance work on the Karnali Highway, citing Department of Roads project director Chuda Raj Dhakal. Republica's report describes the Narayanghat-Hetaunda money as widening the road from two lanes to four, and the Mugling-Ambukhaireni allocation of $30 million as expansion work. The Karnali money, by contrast, is described only as spending "for improving the Karnali highway," with no mention of adding lanes.

The Kathmandu Post reported on September 10 that international bidding for the Narayangadh-Hetauda upgrade had opened on September 4, more than a month before this ADB approval. Chuda Raj Dhakal, project director at the Department of Roads' ADB project directorate, told the Post it would take more than seven months to finish bidding, sign the contract and begin construction. Contractors would then have three and a half years to finish the work.

The package itself is a $285 million loan from ADB's ordinary capital resources, a $20 million grant from its fund for regional cooperation and integration, and $750,000 for technical assistance, Republica reported. Arnaud Cauchois, ADB's country director for Nepal, said the project would help "improve connectivity, support biodiversity conservation, promote sustainable development and achieve inclusive economic growth," Republica reported, adding that the viaduct is designed to let wildlife cross beneath the road while traffic moves above.

Who has not been heard

Neither Republica nor the Kathmandu Post quotes anyone who lives in Makwanpur or Chitwan, where a 2 kilometer flyover and years of construction are planned. That gap stands out because the project runs through what Republica itself described as Nepal's only biological corridor linking the Chure and Mahabharata ranges, a corridor that continues into India's Valmiki Tiger Reserve.

What we still do not know

Who will win the three Narayanghat-Hetauda bidding packages, and has any contract been signed. The Department of Roads or ADB's Nepal office could answer.

Whether an environmental and social assessment for the Tikauli forest viaduct has been published, and whether Makwanpur and Chitwan residents were consulted. The Department of Roads and Chitwan National Park authorities could answer.

How many kilometers of the Karnali Highway the $10 million for road safety and maintenance will cover, and what the work includes. The Department of Roads' Karnali Highway project office could answer.

When Nepal's Ministry of Finance will sign the loan agreement with ADB, and when construction can actually begin. The Ministry of Finance and the Department of Roads could answer.