June 2: The Outer Ring Road Project which was only limited to paperwork for the past 13 years is finally going to start soon.

With the publication of the detailed project report of the project (DPR) in Nepal Gazette, the construction of the first phase 6.6 km of the outer ring road from Satungal to Chovar is going to be started soon.

Minister for Urban Development Arjun Narsingh KC has already given permission for the construction process of Chovar-Satungal portion out of the total 71.93 km of the outer ring road, on April 26 this year.

The construction of the outer ring road started formally with the publication of notice in the Nepal Gazette on May 29 after a month of approval by the Ministry. It is considered as good news as the project aims to manage the urbanization and connect Kathmandu through a single road network.

According to Dhruba Sapkota, Officer of the Outer Ring Road Project, the land acquisition of Chovar-Satungal portion will be started from this week. “As per the Land Acquisition Act, the land acquisition will be started for the construction of the outer ring road,” he said, adding , “Cities will be developed through land integration.”

Similarly, according to Ministry of Urban Development, 13 cities have been developed under the land integration project. He informed that Rs 30 million had been allocated to open track in FY 2016/17.

The total investment of the project is assumed to be Rs six billion. Sapkota said that the project has received a budget of Rs 700 million in upcoming FY 2017/18. “The DPR of remaining 68 km will be approved next year.”

The project will be compensating only for the houses constructed in the project area.

On the first phase of the construction from Chovar-Satungal, the road project covers 8,000 ropanies of land belonging to 14 thousand land owners.