Nepal's First Road Tunnel Enters Final Prep for Saun Operation

The Naagdhunga Tunnel project, marking Nepal's milestone first road tunnel development, has entered its definitive phase of technical preparation ahead of its slated operational launch in the upcoming month of Saun. As part of critical pre-operation protocols, project engineers successfully concluded performance testing for a specialized fleet of maintenance and rescue vehicles, which are designated for regular inspections, structural cleaning, and emergency accident management within the passageway. Comprehensive final evaluations are concurrently underway for the facility's localized ventilation, backup power grids, automated fire suppression systems, CCTV surveillance network, and traffic management frameworks. Spanning a length of approximately 2.68 kilometers, the primary transport structure is supplemented by a parallel emergency rescue tunnel, advanced flyovers, and auxiliary access roads. The project’s infrastructure was constructed at a total cost of roughly 22 billion rupees, heavily financed via soft loan assistance provided by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), with primary construction executed by the Japanese firm Hazma-Ando Corporation. Though the foundation stone was originally laid on November 1, 2019, by the then-Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, the timeline faced operational delays stemming from pandemic restrictions, local land acquisition bottlenecks, and complex geographic realities. Upon its opening, traffic will be strictly regulated via a state-of-the-art control center enforcing rigorous speed limits and lane discipline, a setup projected to drastically alleviate traffic congestion, travel times, and vehicle wear along the critical Naagdhunga highway entry point into the Kathmandu Valley.