Components on Road Transport Infrastructure Development in Kaski District, Gandaki Province, Nepal

Tuesday, June 10, 2025

4:45 PM – 6:00 PM MT

Primary Author(s)

Mahendra Bahadur Baniya, PhD

Senior Divisional Engineer, Planning and Monitoring Sector
Ministry of Physical Infrastructure Development and Transport Management
Pokhara, Gandaki, Nepal

Presenter(s)

Mahendra Bahadur Baniya, PhD

Senior Divisional Engineer, Planning and Monitoring Sector
Ministry of Physical Infrastructure Development and Transport Management
Pokhara, Gandaki, Nepal

Co-Author(s)

TIKA KARKI BANIYA, n/a

School Teacher
Saraswati Adarsha Vidhyashram
Pokhara, Gandaki, Nepal
ARJUN BANIYA, n/a

Associate Professor
United Technical College
Bharatpur, Gandaki, Nepal
RT

Rocky Talchabhadel

Assistant Professor
Jackson State University
Jackson, MS, United States
Asmit Pokhrel, n/a

Team Leader
Provincial Bridge Support Unit
Pokhara, Gandaki, Nepal
SS

Satish Subedi, n/a

Senior Divisional Engineer
Department of Road
Kathmandu, Bagmati, Nepal

Submitter(s)

Mahendra Bahadur Baniya, PhD

Senior Divisional Engineer, Planning and Monitoring Sector
Ministry of Physical Infrastructure Development and Transport Management
Pokhara, Gandaki, Nepal

Abstract: Road Traffic Accident (RTA) became a serious concern and ranked as 8th leading cause of death worldwide. Among various reasons of RTA, insufficient allocation of budget to road safety elements during road transport infrastructure development is one of the main reasons of RTA in rural roads in context of Nepal. Road transport infrastructure development in the rural, hilly areas of Gandaki Province, Nepal poses a significant challenge as well as high expenditure on roadside structures. Generally, highest amount of the total road infrastructure development project cost is allocated to roadside drainage, cross drainage, slope protection structures and road pavement. The detailed cost estimate is only focused on the construction of roadside structures and pavement only. Compared to other road elements, budget provision and concern to road safety elements is very low priority during detailed cost estimate preparation. The research is conducted to explore the existing situation and investment on road safety for 9 major roads of Kaski District in Gandaki province. We invested $20.13M in transport infrastructure development of 9 number of roads and expended about $14.65M budget. Although about 3.57% budget is allocated on road safety elements, only about 2.43% budget is expended on road safety. This low investment on road safety showed that the road safety in transport infrastructure development within the province has low priority. Gandaki Province Government should allocate adequate budget on road safety headings to decrease the road accident in rural area.

Learning Objectives:

Attendees can expect to learn the following from this session:

to understand the budget requirement for road safety
to assess the budget for safety prioritization
to save the lives of road users