Challenges of Hill road construction in Nepal and their solution

By: - Bharat upadhyay

BE 4 year (Department of civil engineering)
Institute of engineering, purwanchal campus, Dharan
th

Email: - upadhyayengineer5@gmail.com
A country cannot progress unless it has a good road network. It improves market intelligence
while encouraging price equalization among different transport regions of the country. Since
Nepals economy is agrarian in character and the settlement pattern is rural oriented, rural
roads constitute a critical element of the transport infrastructure. Among manmade
developments, road has altered the landscape of the earths surface in most dramatic ways. In
the hills, road construction can have significant effects on slope stability, drainage, erosion and
sediment supply to the drains.
The need to develop the road network is of paramount
Importance to the country. However, Nepal is not able to
Provide sufficient strategic roads (national highways and
Feeder roads) let alone expand the branch roads (districts
And village roads), or build feeder roads. Roads improve
Access to the markets and enhance farmers agricultureBased economic opportunity. Therefore, optimal
Management and handling of hill road construction is the
Only solution to meet the demand of the time.
In our country road project is considered as a major project
And running continuously. Every year huge amount of
Figure: road network in mountain
Budget is promulgated in parliament for this sector but
This is not giving satisfaction result due to different challenge associated with construction. The
associated challenges are elaborated in following section. There are so many task that is to be
performed by government and road sector organization to overcome these challenges.

Obstacles of construction and their implementation

Different definitions of the existing road classes and the responsibility for their
management exist in parallel and a proper legal basis is lacking.
Amend the Public Roads Act (1974) and develop complementary Public Road
Regulations to provide a single classification system for all road classes and define the
responsibility for their management.
The roles and responsibilities of DoR, DoLIDAR and the DDCs are not properly defined
and their capacity is insufficient to cope with the increased volume of road works. At
local level an appropriate representation mechanism is lacking and the multitude of
committees is causing confusion and reducing transparency.
Concentrate all SRN and LRN activities with respectively DoR and the DDCs/DoLIDAR.
Ensure that information flows go through the responsible units in DoR and DoLIDAR.
Promote the outsourcing of activities to relieve the burden on DoR and DoLIDAR/DDCs.
Review and enforce policies and guidelines regarding LRN committees.

 Improve the management capacity of DRO/DoR and DTO/DoLIDAR staff.

Inventories for roads and bridges are not up-to-date and lack detailed information on
surface type and condition.
Update and expand the SRN Road Register and put it online for use as a common
database for planning and statistics.
Link LRN funding to simple inventories and annual condition surveys, and compile data
at national level for monitoring purposes and as a basis for developing appropriate
strategies.
Carry out regular condition surveys of all roads and bridges.
Planning and allocation of road sector funding is often politically influenced, resulting in
funding being spread over a multitude of small projects (sprinkler effect) and reducing
its effectiveness. This also complicates technical supervision and reduces transparency.
Promote proper planning and focus funding on roads identified in the Priority
Investment Plan (PIP - 2007) for the SRN and the District Transport Master Plans
(DTMPs) for the LRN.
Review and update the PIP and DTMPs.
Prioritize upgrading, rehabilitation and maintenance of the existing road networks
rather than new construction.
Implementation of road sector activities is affected by poor procurement management
and inappropriate contracting modalities, while in the LRN user committees are misused
to bypass open tendering.
Introduce multiyear contracts and promote performance-based contracts to avoid
procurement delays and reduce the management burden involved in maintenance
works.
Outsource technical supervision to ensure quality control and take steps to prevent
more non-engineered roads from being built.
Tender more works to contractors rather than transferring funds to user committees in
order to improve quality, efficiency and transparency.
Develop equipment norms for use in the LRN and amend the labour-based,
environmentally friendly, participatory (LEP) approach to allow for equipment use under
certain conditions.
Monitoring and evaluation in the road sector is affected by limited capacities at all levels
and does not properly evaluate outcomes and impacts of road sector activities.
Prepare a business plan and logical framework for DoR and DoLIDAR with outputs,
outcomes and impacts, as well as targets and timeframes.
Draw up guidelines for monitoring and evaluation (M&E) in the LRN and SRN.
Focus ministry and national level M&E on outcomes and impacts rather than outputs.
Many different policy documents and guidelines exist in parallel, resulting in
discrepancies and confusion during implementation. Many documents are no longer
suitable to the changed context of the road sector in Nepal. Certain guidelines are
lacking, while others are overly complicated. Many existing policies and regulations are
not being implemented.

Adjust current strategies, standards and norms to the changed context of the road
sector.
Prepare a strategy document for the LRN.
Simplify procedures and guidelines for District Transport Master Plans (DTMPs) and
Annual Road Maintenance Plans (ARMPs).
Monitor and enforce existing regulations.
Road safety in Nepal is very poor due to a lack of clearly defined responsibilities and the
absence of proper coordination.
Develop a Road Safety Act and a Road Safety Plan.
Define the lead agency for coordinating road safety in the SRN and LRN and involve a
mix of private and public sector parties.
Regularly analyse accident data for SRN and LRN and respond to common causes of
accidents.
The regulatory framework for environmental and social safeguards is insufficient and
practical implementation measures are lacking.
Strengthen the social and environmental safeguard units in MoPPW/DoR and
MoLD/DoLIDAR.
Enforce proper works supervision to avoid non-engineered roads that lead to significant
environmental impact.
Strengthen the Land Acquisition Act (1977) and the Land Acquisition, Compensation and
Resettlement Policy to provide a proper regulatory framework for resettlement, and
develop complementary guidelines.

Adverse environmental impacts of road construction

Soil mass waste due to existing road:
Most of the part of country is lying in the Mountainous
And Himalaya region. The method of Road construction
Adopted is found to be cut and throw method.in this
Method of road construction excessive loss of soil mass
Occurs and requires mitigating measures to avoiding or
Minimizing the earth excavation in road construction.
In Himalaya and mountain region the soil available is
Cohesionless and less angle of friction during the
Monsoon season there is probability of landslides and
Flowing of soil occurs finally it leads to wastes of soil.
Mostly cutting part soil is affected by this type of
Impacts.
Increased occurrence of post construction landslides:

Fig- soil mass waste in existed road

Roads excavated using cut and throw method have very high cut height which leads to
instability of slope. Deuja (1994) estimate that 400-700 cubic meter Landslides occurs in per KM
road per year along mountain roads and 3000 to 9000 cubic meter of landslides occurs in per
km roads in mountainous region of Nepal. Studies from Nepal and India indicate that cut slope

Failure after road construction can generate average

Average of 500 cum/km/year of debris.upto 2000 cum/
Km/year can be generated during single storms with 10
To 20 years of recurrence period (TRL 1997).Deuja (1994)
States that massive cutting of mountain slope and care
Less disposal of cut materials in downhill, uncontrolled
Blasting of rock, quarrying and mining activities and
Improper water management has resulted in intensive
Soil loss from accelerated erosion, gullying and land
Slide. Every kilometer of road when constructed may
Fig- post construction landslides
Bring about stress relief equivalent to about 100,000 to
200,000 tonnes of rock mass. Additional 100 tonnes of land loss can be added per
kilometre annually in the case of unprotected cut slopes.
Valley side shear failure:
Excavated mass thrown downhill in the
Valley side of the road adds the surcharge
Load as the natural slope area. This mass
Will cause landslide below the road due to
Shear failure caused by added load.
Contribution in flood during the
Monsoon:
Materials thrown downhill is washed out
During the monsoon and transported to the
Rivers. Sediment load increased in flood due to
The mass waste adds to the damaging effect of
The flood. It also triggers landslide in the valley
Side of road because the added load of Excavated
Mass pulls down the original Soil mass of the hill slope.

Fig- valley side shear failure

Management of adverse environmental impact of road

Green road concept:
The Green Road Concept was introduced in the nineties, but it is not practiced
Except in a few donor-funded projects with close monitoring mechanisms. The Green
Road Concept is an environmentally friendly approach to road building. It refers to an
Environmentally sound, affordable, participatory, technically appropriate, labourbased
Rural road or trail construction/maintenance methodology. The Green Road
Concept focuses on conserving the delicate mountain ecology, in particular the
Protection of vegetation as a means of soil conservation. Green Road is a low-cost,
Low-volume, fair-weather earthen road. The following environmental-friendly
Approaches need to be adopted in rural hill road construction.

 Phased Construction Approach (Gradual Widening):

The conventional practice in road construction is to cut the full width of road in one go. Hill slope
is destabilized when full width and height of road is cut in one go, and needs to be managed
properly to large mass excavation. Therefore, cutting the hill slope is done in phases. Normally,
it takes three years to obtain full width and cut height. This mechanism
Allows time to adjust the hill slope with microbiological properties. The phased road construction
method adopted in the Green Road is as follows:
Phase 1. A trail along the future road alignment is created (1.5 to 2 meter)
Phase 2. A track created by the gradual widening of the trail (3 to 3.5 meter)
Phase 3. Full widening of road (4 to 4.5 meter) including retaining structures,
Drainage structures and bioengineering
Mass Balanced Method of Excavation:
Using a bulldozer to cut the hill slope accelerates soil erosion. In mass balancing or cut-fill method
of excavation, cut height is reduced drastically. Excavated mass is properly deposited in the valley
and part of the road width is obtained. Mass balancing cannot be obtained the steep rocky
sections.

Optimizing the Drainage Requirement:

Common practice in Nepal is to construct the side drain along the length of the road. This
requires about one meter of extra cutting of the hill. The additional 1 m cut results in height
increment of 1.5m in 45 hill slope. Side drains cannot be avoided in all sections of the road, but
where possible, it should be rationally minimized. Side drains are
provided in the following conditions:
At a place where longitudinal gradient are more than 7%
Along agriculture area where irrigation water is found
Road surface
Along built up and settlement areas where household
Water flows along road surface

It should be noted that each side drain should be managed with a proper outlet of water. Cross
drain should be provided. Cascades and small check walls should be built to drain water safely.
Side drains without cross drain will further accelerate soil erosion and landslide because of
accumulated water flow.
Bioengineering Works for Road Slope Stabilization:
Bioengineering is an integral part of Green Road concept. It
Uses living vegetation, either alone or in conjunction with
civil engineering structure and non- living plant material to
reduce shallow-seated instability and erosion on slopes.
Positive mechanical and hydrological slope. Bioengineering
solution can be adopted in stream bank and lakeshore
protection to upland gully restoration and slope
stablization this is the most effective,low-cost measure. It
can be applied in the failed zine of slope as a curative
means and also for reducing the risks future slope failure
as a preventive measure.
Fig- bioengineering works

References:
Deoja, B. B. (1994), Sustainable Approaches to the Construction of Roads and Other
Infrastructure in the Hindu Kush-Himalayas, ICIMOD Occasional Paper No. 24, pp
14 15, Kathmandu
Meyer, W. P. Acharya, B. N. Aryal, R. and Karmacharya B.B.(1999), Greens Roads
in Nepal: Best Practices Report, GTZ, SDC, Kathmandu
Sharma, C.K. (1988), Natural Hazards and Man Made Impacts in the Nepal
Himalaya, pp 88, Kathmandu
Shrestha H. R. (2007), Project Completion Review Report of RCIW Programmes,
DFID, Kathmandu, January 2007
TRL (1997), Principles of Low Cost Road Engineering in Mountainous Regions
(Overseas Road Note 16), Transport Research Laboratory, Overseas Development
Administration, pp 10 16, 24 25 & 65 71, United Kingdom
Shrestha H.R.(2010), the trend of road construction in Nepal,DTMP project Helvetas
Nepal
Ministry of infrastructure and transport report road sector assessment study 2013, in
collaboration with Asian development bank and DFID