Khotang which is well known for the Halesi Mahadev (East
Pashupati) lies in Sagarmatha
zone of Eastern Region of Nepal. It is situated between
Bhojpur district in the east;
Okhaldhunga districts in the west, Solukhumbu district in
the north and Udayapur district in
the south. It is one of the poorest, most remote and
undeveloped district with in the eastern
region of Nepal.
The poverty and remoteness of the district is due to the limitation in mobility and
accessibility to the economic activities. Transport is one
of the major components in
providing accessibility and hence increases the mobility for
various requirements. Physically
it has rugged topography abraded by rivers and streams
demanding high density of transport
infrastructure. With this geophysical complexity, large part
of the district remains
only 36% are within 4 hrs walking distance from the
motorable road head. This indicates a
large part of Khotang still untouched by the basic
development and thus has high demand of
transport infrastructure.
The centrally located district headquarter Diktel is
recently connected by motorable roads
directly to two abutting districts in the east and west by proposed Mid Hill Highway.
However there is no direct connection to the southern Terai
region of Nepal. Apart from
Diktel, other major market centers such as Aiselukharka in
North and Khotang bazaar and
Chisapani in south are inaccessible even within a day of
walking distance from the road head.
Hence very urgent extension of road network from centre to
northern and southern part of
Khotang is deemed necessary.
Even the district headquarters remains isolated from
transport system for the whole period of
monsoon. During these periods goods are transported by
porter and mules. This is due to the
fair weather roads and lack of crossing over the major
rivers. One of the challenges faced by
the district is the presence of huge perennial rivers such
as Dudh Koshi, Sun Koshi at its
boundary in east and Arun River on its way in west. Whole
dry season is depended on the
fairy operated in crossing the rivers. In alternative to
road transport, there are three earthen
airports mainly for passengers travelling for long distance.
In case of emergency evacuation
such as sick people, helicopter which is very expensive is
the only means to access
destination. This has been quite common in average two times
a month.
Hence due to the lack of sufficient and seasonal means of
transportation, the district has been
suffering from its socio-economical development. Provided
basic connection to different
parts of major service centers of Khotang by transport
infrastructure people are expected to
get their basic requirement in cheaper price. Moreover,
approximately 88% of people in
Khotang depend on agriculture and livestock farming
(District profile, 2007). However the
genuine problem is the lack of access to market centers to
sell their goods. Farmers manage
in trading their products only in the local market Hattiya
which is not well managed and does
not add much to the commercialization aspect of agriculture. Hence, agriculture being the
backbone of district economy, it would foster economically
with accessibility to the potential
market outside the district. It has potential market in the
Terai belt of Nepal and India for off
season, low volume but high value crop production.
District is thus facing a challenge of very high demand of
all weather connection to existing
connected market centers and new construction to hinterland
of Khotang district. This is not
possible to overcome by the present common practice of adhoc
planning only during the few
days of district council. A scientific planning approach
should be adopted. During the
planning process missing links should be identified in
accessible areas where as road network
should be planned to extend in inaccessible area. Moreover,
planning needs to address
maintenance of existing road in order to preserve road asset
value and improve the present
mobility. Hence DTMP is prepared based on present transport accessibility
situation of
district with consideration of identified Market Centers.
With the identified list of transport
interventions such as road network and bridge,
prioritization needs to be carried out. With the
limited supply of resources, list of prioritized demand
needs to be matched up for
implementation.
In this context, bottom up approach has been adopted in
planning. According to Local Self
Governance Act, 2055 and the Regulation 2056, the local
government bodies such as DDC
and VDC are responsible for the planning and developing programs. With this authority,
local transport infrastructure such as roads, trail line,
and Trail Bridge are under DDC
responsibility. However, air transport is under the
authority of Nepal Civil Aviation.
Meanwhile, this transport infrastructure under the
responsibility of DDC is very demanding
in investment which needs very scientific planning for the
optimum use of resources. Hence,
both short term and long term planning are required as a
basis for the development of
transport sector with meeting certain targets for the
district (DTMP for five years, DTPP for
long term).
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