NARAYANGHAT, Nepal — Amid the clatter of drills and honking trucks hauling cement, sand and concrete, vehicles large and small navigate muddy tracks and potholes on the Narayanghat-Butwal road, a vital stretch of Nepal’s East-West Highway connecting the eastern and western frontiers of the rectangular-shaped country. Travel time on this 115-kilometer (71-mile) section, which is currently infamous for delays and traffic jams, has more than doubled compared with the days before construction. According to the contract, work was supposed to start in March 2019 and complete by July 2022. The deadline was first extended to August 2023 and then to July 2024 with an extension of one year. But the contractor is yet to complete the work. But after the two lanes are expanded to four, traffic will move swiftly, facilitating quicker and smoother travel — for people. But for the local wildlife, it poses a risk to their lives in addition to posing mobility challenges, which may not have been adequately addressed, conservation officials say. The Narayanghat-Butwal road connects Butwal with Narayanghat on the banks of the Narayani through the outskirts of Bharatpur and Kawasoti. “As the highway passes through 11 forest patches spanning around 60 km [37 mi] on the buffer zone of Chitwan National Park, animals are likely to cross the road regularly,” said Hari Bhadra Acharya, chief of the planning section at the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation. “The safeguard measures adopted aren’t adequate,” he said. In 2018, the Asian Development Bank (ADB), through…This article was originally published on Mongabay
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