| sandbox |
Posted
on 26-Aug-03 07:42 PM
Kathmandu-Hetunda Tunnel Road:
A tunnel road project with approx length 60 KM (as opposed to 224 KM which
will connect Kathmandu to Tarai via Hentuda). We will save billions and
billions of rupees, man hours and and life if we build this road. But this
did not happened before, not happening now and will it ever happen? some
thoughts...
We are hearing lot of rumors/news about this road since we were born. In
view of recent Krishnavir, we again heard this road link again in news. But
as with many promises, we know very well that this promise, along with so
many others, will also fly with monsoon clouds. You will not hear this
again for next nine or so months until Krishnavir starts belching again....
Some facts/rumors/tidbits about this road:
Immediately after BS 2007, Nepal Government appealed International
community for its need to access outside world via road. At that time there
were many donors on the horizons. It is said that after preliminary survey
everyone agreed upon the fact, building road to kathmandu through mountains
would be impractical if not impossible.
Then Swiss Government, with its close ties with Nepal and its extensive
tunnel expertise, offered its expertise and money to Nepal Government to
build tunnel road to Hetunda. After this proposal things started getting interesting...Now
that was the time (early to mid 1950) when there was lot of political upheavel in
then independent Tibet. China was trying to take over Tibet by force and
India was watching closely. (I think Dalai Lama ran away from Tibet around
1955 or so... ). India watching closely with Nehru as PM in India. Nehru
publicly said couple of times that " The northern border of India always
goes as far away as Himalaya" without mentioning Nepal (its security
umbrella). India was very skeptical about this roadway and somehow persue
Nepal to reject swiss offer. The reason: once that roadway is built,
Indian border would be only an hour drive from Kathmandu. If somehow
Chinese managed to land in Kathmandu, then they would be only an hour drive
from Indian border and it was completely unacceptable to India.
Finally Indian Army built the highway in war footage with military
standard between 2008 and 2011 BS. ( What a good excuse to survey every
inch of Nepal's soil on this pretext by Indian Army?) This road as we all
know, is too narrow and too dangerous for civilian traffic. They
deliberately made it long and designed it poorly such that any vehicle
travelling on this road would not reach Indian border in less than 12 hours
from Kathmandu. They took special consideration to make turns as narrow as
possible so that it would be impossible for large military type vehicle to
travel on this road. And with so many dangerous turns on the road even
vehicle that were able to run on this road would be very very slow. This
road is way too long than necessary; think about it this way, this highway
is 186 KM long. It only makes a mere difference of 38 KM if we go west 110
KM from Naubise then 36 KM south to Naryanghat and another 78KM west to
Hentunda than heading straight south from Naubise to Hetunda... ooops
I have a reason to believe above paragraphs. Eveyone knows very well that
when democracy was crushed in 2017 BS by Mahendra, India was unpleasant
with Nepal. So Mahendra played China card and Nepal became closer to China.
He threathened India with what they were scaring at first place, roadway
from Kathmandu to China (Tibet). India is still upset about this road and
as late as early 1990 I was reading in Indian newspapers (Times of India,
Indian Express ) how China built this highway and how strong bridges on
this road are and how this road is so smooth and straight unlike any other
roads India help nepal build. India still claims this road was built to
invade India rather than for economic activity. In Indian opinion, having
good road in Nepal is bad for them.
Why I am giving all this historical background?
It is in my opinion that this road project is not in Nepal's hand. Even if
we come with finance, knowledge and political dedication to build this
road, our big brother will find couple of excuses to stop this project.
Remember... we have to pump river water using scare electricity for
Narayani Irrigation project in NarayanGhat because India won't let us build
any dam in Trishuli River because of Gandak Barrage downstream this river.
We can't build something in our own land for our own good....
With India and china relationship slowly warming up, do you think it will
change?
your thoughts, ideas, comments are most welcome
--Sandbox
If you have any topographic maps, aerial photo or anything about this tunnel road project please share here...
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