Krishna Prasad Sapkota
About 1,800 traffic policemen have been deployed for traffic management in the capital city of Kathmandu. But the solution to the problem of traffic jams is going beyond the purview of the traffic police. Even if the salary allowance is calculated at the rate of 50,000 rupees per month for one person, 1.8 billion rupees are spent annually from the state fund for the traffic police stationed in sub-districts. Apart from this, the expenditure on traffic lights, dividers, signs etc. is also very large. In addition, additional manpower is also mobilized for vehicle management during special ceremonies and festivals.
Billions of rupees have already been spent to widen the road to address the problem of increasing traffic jams in Upatyaka. But the problem is getting worse. According to a statistic, there is a 2,000 km road network with an average width of 4 meters across the Kathmandu valley. But there are 1.6 million vehicles, big and small, running in the district. This confirms that the length of the total number of vehicles is many times more than the length of the road.
In addition, 90 percent of the 1.6 million vehicles plying in the Kathmandu Valley are located in Gwarko, Koteshwar, Chabahil, Maharajganj, Balaju, Tripureshwar, Kalimati, Putlisadak, Kalanki, Kalimati, Tripureshwar, Thapathali, Jamal, Lainchour, Maitighar, Koteshwar, Jadibuti, Kesarmahal, They run in Srokhutte, Balaju, Chawhil, Tinkune, Kupandol, Gongbu and other areas. In these areas, it has become common to have traffic jams of about half an hour before and after office hours and for an hour during office hours.
There is data that 50 to 60 four-wheelers and more than 5 two-wheelers are added daily in Kathmandu sub-district. This data also indicates that the problem of traffic jams will worsen in the coming days. It is not that those who are in the policy making and implementation level of the state do not know that the traffic management of Kathmandu valley is becoming a big problem. How serious are the problems and damages caused by traffic jams? It is not that those who are at the policy making and implementation level of the state do not know that. And all have become a spectacle. There does not seem to be any concrete initiative to solve the problem.
The problem of traffic jams can be solved to some extent by removing the sidewalk traders and widening the road, but this is like avoiding the shame of breaking the kattu. The source of the traffic jam should be managed. As long as there is a pile of garbage, killing mosquitoes alone will not solve the problem, the pile of garbage must be removed. In the same way, the problem of traffic jams in Kathmandu sub-district will not be solved only by increasing the number of traffic policemen, demolishing the neighboring houses, diluting the roads and removing the traders from the sidewalks. The main cause should be diagnosed.
The first thing is that the total length of roads in Kathmandu sub-region with a population of 40 million is 2000 km. 1 km of road equals 2 thousand population. But the number of vehicles in Kathmandu sub-district, which has a population of 40 million, is only 1.6 million. In this calculation, one vehicle is not equal to 3 people. In some houses, the number of vehicles is more than the number of families.
Due to the inability of the state to properly manage public vehicles, people are forced to purchase vehicles. Due to this compulsion, the traffic problem is becoming serious and a large amount of money is always being spent on vehicles and fuel. The problem of air pollution will only increase. It is always difficult for common people to use public vehicles. There is still a big challenge to be faced in using public transport in Kathmandu. At the pick-up and drop-off point, people have to identify the vehicle they are going to board and get off at their destination.
Uncomfortable, disorganized and insecure public transport has become the hallmark. The public transport system of Kathmandu Valley is very poor. Sometimes it takes 1-2 hours to cover a 2-4 km road. An employee takes hours to reach and return to his office during office hours. How much is the loss to the nation as a whole when every person’s productive time is spent in traffic jams on a daily basis? It is important to consider it. Therefore, the first condition to solve the problem of traffic jams in Kathmandu Valley is to expand the public transport network with modern technology. If public vehicles are reliable, the use of private vehicles will be reduced by half. This will help a lot in solving the problem of traffic jam.
Another reason for traffic jams in the capital city of Kathmandu is that the offices and areas where people need to reach Sewalin are concentrated in one place. For example, all government offices, all school campuses, all hospitals and all markets are within the ring road. In addition, all the government offices, all the school campuses, all the hospitals and all the hotels, all the markets are located in an area of about 4 square kilometers from Babarmahal in the east to Teku in the west and from Thapathali in the south to Lanchaur in the north. Not only 4 million people in Uptyaka but also millions of people outside have to reach this area of about four square kilometers every day, as long as the government is handed over to the President of Singapore, the problem of traffic jam in Uptyaka will not be solved.
Solutions
By shifting the hospitals like Bir Hospital, Teaching Hospital to the outer ring road, make parking arrangements at that place. Make all the hospitals in one place so that when the hospital is located in one place and the patient is going from one hospital to another hospital, there is no situation of death of the patient due to traffic jam and the problem of jam is also freed. All the colleges should be made in one place outside the ring road so that the students do not have to wander around to find a college in many places and transfer Bisavabhasha College, Law College, RR College, and Balmiki College outside the ring road and make parking arrangements at those places. As a result, the problem of traffic jams in Kathmandu will be solved in addition to the good parking situation.
First of all, let’s move government offices, school campuses, hospitals and consultancies around the ring road in an area of about 4 square kilometers from Babarmahal in the east to Teku in the west and Thapathali in the south to Lanchaur in the north. Let’s build overpass, underpass and other infrastructure on Savik’s ring road which is 27 km long and 8 lanes wide in such a way that there is no traffic jam even for a minute. There should be ample provision of public vehicles on the circular path of Savik.
Likewise, let’s declare the old Kathmandu from Darwar High School in the east to Bhimsensthan in the west and from Lainchour in the north to Teku in the south as a full tourist area. The entry of vehicles other than tourist vehicles should be prohibited in that area. Let’s construct an underground parking lot in the area that will be vacated after the relocation of Balmiki, Ratnarajya, Nepal Law, Vishwabhasha campus. Let’s construct an underground road through that underground parking lot to Sundhara, to Anamnagar, to Thapathali and to Lainchour.
Similarly, private schools are another cause of the traffic jam problem in Upatyaka. Currently, 3000 schools are operating in the valley and about 800,000 students study in them. Out of which 2 lakh use school vehicles. A total of 6,000 buses make 2 to 6 trips a day, making 30,000 trips. Even if you spend 2 hours on a trip to Salakhala, buses are plying the road for 50,000 to 70,000 hours every day. Young children who travel in it are forced to spend their time studying, playing and entertaining and face unnecessary traffic jams on the road.
For example, Siddharth Banasthali School in Balaju area of Kathmandu district transports students from Hattiban in Lalitpur district. Little Angels School located in Hattivan area of Lalitpur takes students from Kathmandu Balaju area. This is just an example. There are many such schools in Kathmandu Valley. Provision of school bus for class 10 should be banned.
Apart from this, if overpasses and underpasses are not constructed at 10 to 12 places in the valley, it will not be possible to drive in the coming days. The petrol pumps on the side of the main road of Kathmandu are also jamming. It has been proven that road expansion is not enough. For that, the traffic problem at the square should be solved. For this, from the redesign of the road infrastructure, traffic lights, traffic signs and roads should be built above or below the ground. The outer ring road construction and the remaining inner ring road widening work should be completed soon. Express bus services should be operated on the roads built along the corridors of rivers and streams.
The author is the director and journalist of Report Nepal
