Govt negligence keeps road condition poor
KATHMANDU:
Customers buying petrol each time pay Rs four per litre to the government for road maintenance. Fees are also paid for road repair while registering vehicles and filling diesel and Aviation Turbine Fuel. Yet, customers are being forced to ride on rough roads.
That is not all; the government’s failure to keep the road network in a fair condition by mobilising required funds has also been increasing the cost for maintenance each year, besides pushing up the vehicle operation cost. The Department of Roads (DoR) said that it will have to carry out maintenance work on 29,270 km of strategic and feeder roads in the next fiscal year.
“Only 30 to 55 per cent of the total budget required is being allocated each year because of which the size of required fund and volume of maintenance works are increasing annually,” said Gambhir Shrestha, senior divisional engineer at the Maintenance Division of DoR. He added that for the upcoming fiscal year, they have sought over Rs 10 billion for different maintenance activities across the country.
The fund demanded for next fiscal is up by 175 per cent compared to Rs 3.63 billion allocated for the current fiscal year. Last year, DoR had asked for Rs 7.66 billion. Shrestha said that a total of Rs 4.21 billion has been sought for reconstruction, rehabilitation and upgrading works. Similarly, Rs 2.37 billion and Rs 2.16 billion has been demanded for specific and periodic maintenance, respectively.
As per the integrated annual road maintenance plan (IARMP) of DoR, 8,909 km road requires Rs 531.51 million for routine maintenance and Rs 517.47 million for recurrent repairing of 6,732 km road in the next fiscal year. The department will have to carry out periodic maintenance of 847 km and specific maintenance of 3,798 km road. Similarly, 825 km needs reconstruction and rehabilitation.
Low budget allocation each year, movement of over-loaded vehicles, poor quality road construction or maintenance conducted are some of the major reasons behind the sorry condition of the roads. Normally, periodic repair is carried out every five to seven years, while specific maintenance means constructing retaining walls, cross drains and other preventive measures to keep roads in good condition. Reconstruction and rehabilitation works also known as backlog maintenances are carried out as per the situation of the road.
Other maintenance works apart from regular maintenances — routine and recurrent — get less priority which has been the main reason in the increasing backlog maintenance. Despite collecting handsome charges amid growth in import of fuel and automobiles, Ministry of Finance (MoF) has been providing less fund for road repair and it is reflected in each fiscal’s programme, according to Roads Board Nepal (RBN) that manages funds for road maintenances.
Ramesh Nath Bastola, executive director of RBN said that they had been tired of asking the government to increase resources for maintenance. “In fact, MoF has not released around Rs seven billion collected as fuel levy and maintenance charges in the last 10 years which RBN is supposed to get as per law,” he said, adding that if the government releases Rs six to Rs seven billion for next fiscal year, they will be able to complete all maintenance works. Funding for all other maintenance works except rehabilitation, reconstruction and upgrading falls under the responsibility of RBN.
DoR's demands
• Rs 4.21 billion for reconstruction, rehabilitation and upgrading works
• Rs 2.37 billion for specific maintenance
• Rs 2.16 billion for periodic maintenance
Source: THT
