April 5: With the expansion of road networks in the country, the government is making preparations for a master plan to prioritize road safety and construction of quality infrastructure. Minister for Physical Infrastructure and Transport Basant Kumar Nembang has instructed the subordinate bodies under the ministry to formulate a master plan for road construction across the country.
At a meeting of the ministry-level Development Problem Solving Committee on April 4, Minister Nembang directed the subordinate bodies to formulate a master plan.  Currently, the road network across the country has expanded to about 100,000 kilometers (km), and the Department of Roads is preparing a master plan to make them safe and of high quality.
"As it is the construction season now, we should go to the project sites and give high priority to monitoring instead of going through the files. There should be coordination between the agencies," the minister said.
Minister Nembang stressed the need to form a separate task force to resolve the issues of compensation and land acquisition.
Nepal is currently working on a five-year road strategy plan. However, an official said that the minister instructed them to formulate a master plan to cover the overall road infrastructure.
Minister Nembang stressed on a concrete strategy on what to do in the next decade and how to make road infrastructure safe, reliable, and quality. He claimed that the master plan will formulate a strategy for the coming decade.
"The government's goal of extending the road network to all district headquarters has almost been achieved," he said. Therefore, the priority now is to develop reliable road infrastructure for safe travel, which the master plan will prioritize, he added.
The government on Saturday laid the foundation stone of the roads connecting the headquarters of rural municipalities with the nearby blacktop road and has decided to initiate the road construction work in each electoral constituency.
Officials of the department informed that a long-term plan is a must for quality road expansion.
The Department of Roads directly oversees about 15,000 kilometers of national highways, auxiliary highways, and other roads after the country went into federalism.  Likewise, the department has handed over other roads to the provinces and local governments.

According to the Economic Survey 2076/77, altogether 34,347 km roads have been constructed by the federal government and 61, 395 km roads by provincial governments and 95,742 km roads by local level governments.