{"id":294570,"date":"2026-04-10T07:16:28","date_gmt":"2026-04-10T01:31:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/insurancekhabar.com\/?p=294570"},"modified":"2026-04-10T07:20:04","modified_gmt":"2026-04-10T01:35:04","slug":"nagdhunga-tunnel-road-now-costlier-to-enter-kathmandu-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/english.insurancekhabar.com\/nagdhunga-tunnel-road-now-costlier-to-enter-kathmandu-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Nagdhunga Tunnel Road now costlier to enter Kathmandu"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kathmandu.\u00a0 After a long wait and many technical challenges, the Nagdhunga-Sisnekhola tunnel way has finally reached the final stage of operation. The government of Nepal has made public the ‘Tunnel Usage Charge’ that drivers have to pay for the use of the tunnel route. <\/p>\n

As per the decision of the Council of Ministers, the government has fixed separate rates for four categories of vehicles in exercise of the authority of the Road Board Act, 2058 BS. <\/p>\n

What is the new fee system? <\/p>\n

According to the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport, the vehicles entering Kathmandu will have to pay a slightly higher fee than those entering Kathmandu. It is understood that the entry fee has been slightly higher as there is no need to cut through the uphill road and curves due to the tunnel way, which saves more fuel and time. <\/p>\n

\"\"
Source: Nepal Gazette<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Note: Motorbikes and scooters are prohibited on this tunnel for security reasons. <\/p>\n

Project description: <\/p>\n

It took around 6 years (72 months) to complete the construction of the tunnel. The project was initially targeted to be completed within 42 months, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic and disputes over local compensation, the deadline was extended. <\/p>\n

The initial estimated cost of the project was around Rs 22 billion. But with the passage of time and some changes in the design, its total cost has now reached about Rs 27.5 billion. <\/p>\n

The project was constructed with concessional loan assistance from the Government of Japan. Out of this, about Rs 16.5 billion has been loaned by the Japanese Cooperation Agency and the remaining amount has been borne by the government from internal sources (compensation and some construction expenses). <\/p>\n

How long will it take to recover the investment? <\/p>\n

According to preliminary studies, the breakeven point of the tunnel is estimated to be around 20 to 25 years, depending on the fees collected from the tunnel and its financial contribution. However, it will depend on the pressure of the vehicle and the operating cost. <\/p>\n

Many people may wonder \u2013 why pay for a few minutes of travel? But the stats say something else:<\/p>\n

Saving distance: The existing Naubise-Nagdhunga road is about 8.5 kilometers, while using the tunnel reduces this distance to about 2.7 kilometers. <\/p>\n

Time saved: Due to traffic jams and congestion, it used to take 30 to 50 minutes to cross this section, but now it takes only 7 to 10 minutes. <\/p>\n

Fuel and Maintenance Costs: Calculating the rate of wear and tear of the fuel and tyres consumed by the vehicle on the uphill and downhill roads, a single use of the tunnel will save about Rs. 150 to 200 rupees of fuel for a light vehicle. <\/p>\n

Hence, this charge seems justified as it saves time and fuel by paying Rs 60-65 and ensures a safe journey. This is sure to provide great relief to the general public from the traffic jam which is considered to be the ‘hell’ of Nagdhunga.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kathmandu.\u00a0 After a long wait and many technical challenges, the Nagdhunga-Sisnekhola tunnel way has finally reached the final stage of operation. The government of Nepal has made public the ‘Tunnel Usage Charge’ that drivers have to pay for the use of the tunnel route. As per the decision of the Council of Ministers, the government […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":294568,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[45031,45159],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-294570","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-banner-news-en","category-news-en"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/english.insurancekhabar.com\/ikbrapi\/wp\/v2\/posts\/294570","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/english.insurancekhabar.com\/ikbrapi\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/english.insurancekhabar.com\/ikbrapi\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english.insurancekhabar.com\/ikbrapi\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english.insurancekhabar.com\/ikbrapi\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=294570"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/english.insurancekhabar.com\/ikbrapi\/wp\/v2\/posts\/294570\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":294571,"href":"https:\/\/english.insurancekhabar.com\/ikbrapi\/wp\/v2\/posts\/294570\/revisions\/294571"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english.insurancekhabar.com\/ikbrapi\/wp\/v2\/media\/294568"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/english.insurancekhabar.com\/ikbrapi\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=294570"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english.insurancekhabar.com\/ikbrapi\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=294570"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english.insurancekhabar.com\/ikbrapi\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=294570"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}