Government Pushes Kathmandu Expressway Deadline to 2030 as Costs Double
The government has pushed the Kathmandu–Tarai Expressway completion deadline to April 2030, giving the Nepali Army three more years as physical progress reaches 50 percent and projected costs surpass Rs 213 billion.
The Nepal government has extended the completion deadline for the Kathmandu–Tarai/Madhes Expressway to April 3, 2030, granting the Nepali Army three additional years as the national pride project reaches only 50 percent physical completion after nine years of military supervision.
According to reporting by The Rising Nepal, the Cabinet approved the extension during an unannounced meeting in August, pushing back the earlier target of mid-April 2027. Nepali Army spokesperson Brigadier General Rajaram Basnet confirmed that the 70.97-kilometre expressway had achieved 50.02 percent physical progress and 51.47 percent financial progress by mid-September 2026. The army has disbursed Rs 94.22 billion out of an officially revised budget of Rs 211.93 billion, while Annapurna Post reported that total expenses, factoring in contingencies and unfinished works, are now projected to exceed Rs 213 billion.
The high-speed route is designed to connect Khokana in Lalitpur with Nijgadh in Bara, bypassing vulnerable mountain highways to ensure reliable transport links between the capital and the southern plains. The Cabinet handed construction management to the army in May 2017 with an initial four-year mandate. That decision followed the cancellation of an earlier concession with an Indian consortium. In early 2017, Nagarik News reported that a high-level government panel headed by former National Planning Commission vice-chair Min Bahadur Shrestha advised the state to buy out the detailed project report from India's Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services rather than build from scratch. Subsequent delays in finalizing a fresh project design pushed the army's timeline first to late 2024 and then to 2027.
Outlets highlighted that land acquisition in Lalitpur remains the main impediment to finishing the expressway. Construction on the 6.5-kilometre Khokana–Bungamati stretch, grouped as Package 11, has not reached the contract stage because local residents have protested over ancestral land acquisition and cultural heritage sites. Annapurna Post reported that the Ministry of Defence is studying whether to shift the expressway's entry point to Chobhar and connect it via the Bagmati corridor to the Ring Road, though authorities have yet to take a final decision.
Milestone reports and baseline estimates also differ among publications. Annapurna Post reported that both tubes of the key Mahadevtar tunnel had already achieved breakthrough. In contrast, The Rising Nepal reported that only the left tube had broken through, while excavation on the right tube was in its final stage. Outlets also reported conflicting historical cost baselines: The Rising Nepal cited an initial estimate of around Rs 175 billion, whereas Annapurna Post noted an early target of about Rs 85 billion alongside a 2015 detailed project report estimate of Rs 112 billion. Nagarik News had reported in 2017 that the project was anticipated to cost approximately Rs 125 billion.