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REPORT PROPOSED OUTER RING ROAD The proposed Outer Ring Road of Kathmandu Valley has been a topic of debate among planners and architects. Whereas the planners are divided on the issue, architects are expecting a lot of opportunities in Kathmandu once the project takes off formally. In reality, the Outer Ring Road will change the cityscape of Kathmandu and if not planned properly, it may encourage unprecedented urban sprawl. The chaotic situation in the existing Ring Road needs to be carefully studied while designing the proposed road. The challenge for planners and road engineers is not only to create a trunk road or a fast track for the city, but also to create an urban arterial road, which will serve both the urban and rural areas of the Valley. It has to link the traditional settlements of the Valley which have good potential for tourism development. KATHMANDU VALLEY The idea of the Outer Ring Road was mooted about four years ago when the Department of Roads conducted a feasibility study of the road and prepared a report. The study was followed by a short review of the project in terms of urban development. The review was guided by the proposal for future land pooling sites in the three districts of the Valley including the proposed new town of Harisidhhi. Moreover, the JICA report of 1993 has clearly underlined the need for a link road from Lubhu of Lalitpur to Gokarna of Kathmandu. Since the existing Ring Road has been located in the northwest part of Kathmandu Valley, accessibility is very poor on the newly expanding settlements in Lalitpur and Kathmandu. The metropolitan areas of Kathmandu Valley are expanding towards east and south and those areas The rationale of constructing the Outer Ring Road lies more on integrated infrastructure development rather than being merely a highway project Text: Ar. Kishore Thapa, ORR Project Courtesy: Kishore Thapa. 86 SEP-OCT 2005 SPACES
a bypass road for Greater Kathmandu (Kathmandu and Lalitpur combined together) once the Bardibas- Banepa road is completed. Similarly, bus terminals, sewage treatment plants and telephone exchanges could be located adjacent to the Outer Ring Road. The proposed road will also help in the delineation of rural urban boundary as envisaged by the Long Term Plan and opening up new areas for planned development. Image: Sarosh Pradhan. PLANNING CONCEPT OF THE OUTER RING ROAD The proposed Road will be approximately 66 km long and it will connect large numbers of villages and traditional settlements of Kathmandu, Lalitpur and Bhaktapur. It will help to promote the linkages of many cultural towns such as Harisiddhi, Lubhu, Thimi, Bode, Gokarna, Tokha, Kirtipur, are in need of a major trunk road. On the regional basis, a bypass road is necessary to divert the traffic coming from the east of the Valley and going to the west or vice versa. WHY OUTER RING ROAD? Many people ask whether the Outer Ring Road is a necessity. In the given situation, improvement of the existing road network in the urban areas should be the first priority. This includes improvement of 14 numbers of existing radial roads. The much-awaited Inner Ring road, which includes Bishnumati, Bagmati and Dhobikhola corridor should also be given top priority. This will contribute to diffusing the traffic congestion in Kathmandu and Lalitpur. Similarly, accessibility of the southern and eastern regions of the Valley needs to be progressively improved. The rationale of constructing the Outer Ring Road lies more on integrated infrastructure development rather than being merely a highway project. The government has been implementing the Melamchi Water Supply Project, which will bring water from the snow-fed Melamchi river to Kathmandu Valley through a 27 km long tunnel. The treated water from Sundarijal and Bansbari has to be distributed to the major towns and settlements. It would be cheaper to construct a road and lay pipes along its alignment. The road will also help in the location of the large reservoirs to be built in different locations of the Valley. Another infrastructure development project, which is suffering due to the lack of road access, is the electric transmission line. If the transmission line could follow the road, it will greatly help in the construction as well as operation and maintenance. Similarly other utilities like laying of telephone cables for telecommunication network expansion can be highly benefited by the construction of the Outer Ring Road. In the transportation aspect, there is an urgent need of Khokana and Thecho. It will roughly follow the rural and urban boundary envisaged in the Plan 2020 of Kathmandu Valley and will try to maintain the hierarchy of settlements in the Valley. Hierarchy of physical and social infrastructure shall be maintained as per the planning norms and standards. For example organised open spaces will be provided at cluster level, block level and neighbourhood level. The planning approach is to be adopted not only in the landpooling programme but also in the provision of the basic urban infrastructure. Building byelaws will be formulated to create a habitable neighbourhood. TECHNICAL FEATURES The only study report available today is that of the feasibility study done by Department of Roads. A detail project report has to be prepared to estimate the cost and to prepare Image: Sarosh Pradhan. The Outer Ring Road will be divided into three sectors, namely Kathmandu, Lalitpur and Bhaktapur. Each sector will be divided into subsectors. Each subsector will be divided into neighbourhoods, which will be further divided into blocks and clusters. A block will contain about 15 clusters and each neighbourhood will contain about 6 blocks. Each neighbourhood will be linked to the Outer Ring Road through a 11 m road and each block will be served by a 8m wide road. A strip of 250 m will be delineated on the either side of 60m wide roads for planned development and the width of the planning area may vary as per local condition. SPACES SEP-OCT 2005 87
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MASS HOUSING Thank you for a very i
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“When I was a kid, elders would a
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Emerald Pools SPACES SEP-OCT 2005 2
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figurines in a spiral arrangement (
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Text: Kathmandu Valley Preservation
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The restoration of Kal Bhairav was
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Page 49 and 50: Resort has 61 standard rooms, all o
Page 51 and 52: CRAFTS DRIFTING T O W A R D S FAME
Page 53 and 54: is?” No need to guess, it clearly
Page 57 and 58: HOTEL WITH A HISTORY Nov/Dec 2004 T
Page 59 and 60: JOURNEY THROUGH S P A C E S FLAUNTI
Page 63 and 64: INTERIOR Text: Sonia Gupta The wall
Page 65 and 66: colour all around. These lights are
Page 67 and 68: Sonia Text: A.B. Shrestha Sonia’s
Page 71 and 72: ARCHITECT ROBERT WEISE: Text: Kai W
Page 73 and 74: PROFILE§ Above: Royal Palace propo
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Page 105 and 106: TRANSITIONAL HICCUPS Courtesy: Dr.
Page 107 and 108: Oak Tree Celebrating The Grand open
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