Bagmati Province will stop funding narrow roads from the coming fiscal year, after Chief Minister Kiran Thapa Magar announced that the provincial government will not allocate budget for any road narrower than six metres. He made the announcement while addressing a programme organised by the District Coordination Committee Makwanpur in Hetauda, where he said a standard to that effect is being prepared. The declaration, carried the same day by Nagarik News, Ratopati and Khabarhub, marks a clear shift in how the province intends to channel its road infrastructure spending, tying provincial funds to a minimum width benchmark.

Province Draws a Six-Metre Line on Road Funding

Addressing the gathering in Hetauda, Chief Minister Magar said the provincial government will not provide budget for roads less than six metres wide beginning next fiscal year. According to him, the threshold is being formalized through a standard that is currently in preparation, and that standard will determine which roads qualify for provincial investment once it comes into force.

The message from the province's chief minister was unambiguous: width is set to become a decisive filter for provincial road funding. Roads falling short of the six-metre mark will not be eligible for budgetary support from the provincial government, and the rule is to apply from the very start of the next fiscal year.

The key points of the announcement are as follows:

  • The Bagmati Provincial Government will not allocate budget for roads narrower than six metres, effective from the next fiscal year.
  • Chief Minister Kiran Thapa Magar announced the policy at a programme organised by the District Coordination Committee Makwanpur in Hetauda.
  • A standard implementing the six-metre requirement is being prepared.
  • Once in force, the standard will serve as the minimum benchmark for a road to receive provincial funding.
  • The announcement was reported the same day by Nagarik News, Ratopati and Khabarhub.

What the Threshold Means for Road Projects

The policy carries direct implications for local governments, wards and road committees that depend on the province for infrastructure money. Under the announced rule, a road project proposed for provincial funding will first have to demonstrate that its width meets or exceeds six metres. Projects that fall below that line will not qualify for provincial budget, meaning such roads would have to be widened or pursued through arrangements other than provincial grants.

Because the province will apply the criterion at the stage of budget allocation rather than after construction, bodies seeking provincial support will need to account for the minimum width when they design and propose road projects. In effect, planning documents and funding requests will be measured against the six-metre benchmark before any provincial money flows.

Questions over how existing roads below the threshold will be treated, and how widths will be verified, remain open until the standard is formally adopted and published. The chief minister's announcement sets the policy direction; the prepared standard is expected to spell out the mechanics of implementation.

Announced in Hetauda, Reported Across Newsrooms

The announcement was made in Hetauda, the headquarters of Makwanpur district and the capital of Bagmati Province, at a programme hosted by the District Coordination Committee Makwanpur. The district-level event provided the chief minister a platform to outline the province's upcoming approach to road funding before those gathered for the occasion.

Newsrooms picked up the remarks immediately. Nagarik News ran the report under the headline "Province will not provide budget for roads less than six meters wide," while Ratopati attributed the statement directly to Chief Minister Thapa in its own coverage. Khabarhub also published the announcement the same day, giving the policy direction wide circulation across Nepali media.

From Announcement to Implementation

With the standard still under preparation, attention now turns to how quickly it is finalized and adopted before the next fiscal year begins. Once in force, the six-metre rule is expected to shape the provincial budget process directly: road proposals that do not meet the minimum width are likely to be screened out when provincial funds are distributed.

Until the standard is published, its operational details, including measurement procedures and the treatment of proposals already in the pipeline, will remain to be seen. What is clear from the Hetauda announcement is that Bagmati Province intends to make a measurable engineering benchmark a condition of its road funding, and that from the next fiscal year onward, roads narrower than six metres will no longer feature in the provincial budget.