Dhulikhel-Bardibas road; a strong pillar of Nepal-Japan cooperation

I vividly recall the saying of a Japanese Ambassador posted in Nepal some eight years back saying that they would continue extending their unconditional support to this Himalayan Kingdom immaterial who ruled this nation. The Japanese diplomat gave me the impression that their support is for the common people who were denied their basics that was due to them.

It is perhaps these sentiments that Japan stands tall today among the line of the donors.

Question only arises as to how we the Nepalese have been utilising their donations that has poured into this country in billions and billions over these past decades. Those who receive and claim to have utilized those donations should better answer this question. The common men neither know nor were allowed to know about the procedure of the utilization of the moneys thus received either from Japan or for that matter any other friendly donors. This has been their fate.

Without wasting much of our precious time on these "'well established" hard facts, I wish today to engage my august readers elsewhere.

In fact, the day I saw the new Japanese Ambassador on NTV a few weeks back walking around the Dhulikhel-Bardibas section of the road that is almost complete upto Bhakunde, a strong desire erupted in my heart and I then decided to make a similar trip to the area mentioned above.

This I accomplished last Saturday. I drove upto Bhakunde that is some 26 kilometers from the entry point in Dhulikhel.

I am told that this road if completed on time would reduce four-five hours of driving for those who wish to travel to the eastern part of the country. This would not only reduce the distance but definitely lessen the consumption of gasoline which we import paying hard currency. A person wishing to go to Janakpur will consume simply four hours in lieu of the eight-nine hours which he is supposed to consume for using the regular Kathmandu-Mugling-Narayanghat-Hetaunda-Pathlaiya-Dhalkebar road. Similarly, a person wishing to visit Biratnagar will now reach his or her destination easily even if he begins his journey from Kathmandu after enjoying his lunch.

The visible saving of time, money and the gasoline should be very important for this resource crunch nation.

Last Saturday I reached up to Bhakunde. It was here that I was told by the local population that within six months a further plus six kilometers would be completed. The hitch if any lay in the Bardibas part, section 3, wherein the work is not in the speed which was expected by the local residents. Will the concerned contractors listen to this!

On my way back to Dhulikhel, I decided to talk to some of the workers currently engaged in the construction and the maintenance of the road. It was PATLEKHET in the Kabhre district wherein I stopped and began talking to the workers.

The workers were eight in numbers. According to them the workers were all Nepali nationals. The first good news indeed. There has been no penetration of foreign workers at least at this stage. This means that the road has already been generating employment opportunities for the poverty stricken population of those areas. Kudos to the Japanese side.

The foreman, Bishnu Karki, told me that it was JICA/Hazma contract. The sub-contract was TAISAI and the SCC which had employed them all there.

"The newly constructed road has come for us like a boon for now onwards we can carry our products to the market in no time. In addition to this, we can now send our kids to higher level schools in Dhulikhel which will allow us to educate our children", claimed the youths who had by then thronged to talk to me and exhibited their preparedness to answer my questions even. Time permitting, some higher secondary schools and at even a later stage some ten plus two classes could be opened if every thing went smoothly. Imagine the charismatic change that would then prevail in the area at least in the sector of education. Definitely it would contribute to the gains in the HRD from that yet underdeveloped area to the benefit of the nation collectively.

"What was once unimaginable has become true today after the construction of this road. Can you imagine that the milk production of Mangal Tar which went waste every day is at the moment finds its sale in Dhulikhel at good price", told one gentleman from among the crowd.

(The men who briefed me about the engineering aspects of the road and the changed local scenario were Thule Tamang; Man Kaji; Yadu Nath Dhital; Krishna Prasad Dhital; Prakash Dhital; Sabin Dhital and Badri Timilsina respectively who could be seen in the photograph from Left to right. In between, you could see the foreman Karki and the author in cap).

Commercial activities have taken a quantum jump in the area covered by the road built by the Japanese government. The lands which had practically no price or were being sold at dirt cheap price have soared up. For example, a ropani of land in Patlekhet which could not fetch even forty to fifty thousand a few months back, now could be bargained for some two lakhs per ropani. A quantum jump indeed. Similarly, the vegetables produced in the entire stretch could now be seen, I was told, being sold in Baneshwar, Kathmandu.

Transport services are seen busy in carrying to and fro the people of the area. People from Bhakunde could now come to Dhulikhel and watch a new movie and easily could return back home the same day. This would have taken at least two days for them to enjoy the film in Dhulikhel had the road not been constructed.

I am sorry that I could not give you dear readers the other details which you perhaps wish to get. But then since it was a sudden trip to that part, I could give you only the peripheral things which I collected last Saturday.

However, the fact is that the people falling in the area will immensely benefit from this new construction; the villages through which the road will make its way will develop instantly; new markets will come into existence and commerce/business activities will expand; will definitely offer plenty of job opportunities to the yet unemployed youths and the one industry that will benefit from it would certainly be the tourism sector provided the men involved in this business so desire.

Prospects of opening Resorts/Restaurants are abundant as all along the road, the majestic Himalayas chase you. Snow capped mountains could be seen from practically every where. The majestic mountains appear to come closer with each added cans of beer. (Statutory warning: Do not drink alcohol while driving be it in the mountains or in the Terai plains).

Finally, I wish to thank the Japanese government for this splendid cooperation. In doing so I convey to the Japanese government the feelings of the people whom I met last week who jointly have told me to request the Kathmandu based Japanese mission to double the speed of the construction. According to them, work could go only upto June/July. Once the monsoon starts, things will come to a stand still.

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