National
Unupdated road data causes hardship
The country lacks accurate and up-to-date data on new roads, resulting in irregularities in land tax collection and building permits.The country lacks accurate and up-to-date data on new roads, resulting in irregularities in land tax collection and building permits.
While the Department of Roads has maintained data on the length and location of all strategic roads including national highways, feeder roads, mid-hill roads and postal roads, it lacks information on local roads that run through municipalities and VDCs.
According to Keshabraj Pardhe, section officer at the Municipality Management Section at Ministry of Federal Affairs and Local Development, the lack of accurate data means people have been forced to pay taxes even for the land already acquired by the government for road building. Municipalities’ inability to determine the area of roads has also caused difficulties in issuing building construction permits and maintaining uniform width of the roads, he added.
Two World Bank-funded projects–Project for Strengthening the National Rural Transport Programme and Rural Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Sector Development Programme have constructed or upgraded several roads in the past several years. The SNRTP has upgraded 2,221km of road in 33 districts while a further 5,376 km of roads are being maintained periodically or routinely.
The RRRSDP has constructed or upgraded nearly 850km of roads in 20 districts. But the government has failed to compile a comprehensive data of these projects.
The ministry has already directed municipalities across the country to prepare an inventory of the public land that have been acquired for road construction. As per the Land Acquisition Act of 1977, a meeting chaired by District Administration Office decides upon the land to be re-registered from private ownership to public ownership and forwards details to respective Land Revenue Office and Survey Office.
The ministry has also asked the municipalities to determine right of way and setback of roads as per District Transport Masterplan, Municipal-level Transport Masterplan and the Urban Planning, Settlement Development and Building Construction Guidelines 2015.