February 17: The country will witness improvement in road infrastructure to electricity distribution in the next five years, says Dr Bishwanath Poudel, vice chairman of the National Planning Commission.

He said that the Department of Roads is preparing to widen the Narayangarh-Pathlaiya road from four-lane to six-lane and the road from Inaruwa to Kakarvitta section is also being widened. "I have advised the technicians to make the road in such a way that motorists can travel at the rate of 100 km per hour," he said. 

Similarly, widening of Kamala-Kanchanpur (Saptari) section of East-West Highway has started. He said that the contractor has assured that the road expansion of Butwal-Narayanghat section will be completed in the next two and a half years. 

According to Poudel, the highway connecting Kathmandu and Pokhara is also being upgraded into four lanes. It is also certain that the tunnel under Daunne will be constructed soon, assured Poudel. "The travel distance between Kathmandu and Pokhara will also be shortened to three hours. We can further shorten the distance," he said. 

He said that if the previous government had paid attention, the Japanese would have been working on developing the Surya Binayak-Dhulikhel fast track and they would have been willing to work on the metro starting from Gongbu. 

"Even so, we are making efforts to get the project back on track. Even today, a group is in serious discussions to build a tunnel from Khurkot along the BP highway," he said. 

According to him, electricity will reach all the households of Nepal within 2-3 years and it is estimated that there are 200,000 to 300,000 houses left where electricity is yet to reach. 

With the production of cement reaching 1.5 million metric tons per year, the government is in a position to provide subsidies on modern construction materials to the homes of all poor Nepalis, just like the government used to give subsidies for biogas, added Poudel. If the government works hard, in a few years, old and dilapidated houses will be replaced by earthquake resistant houses, he further said.