‘Agro ministry’s schemes boost production’; Ring Road expansion to begin soon: Minister Dahal

Kathmandu / March 7: Minister for Agriculture and Livestock Development, Ramnath Adhikari, has said the mechanization and commercialization of agriculture sector has resulted in increased production of food grains, vegetables and fruits.

Responding to the lawmakers’ queries put forth in the National Assembly meeting on Friday, Minister Adhikari said the paddy production was upped in the current fiscal year. This year saw the rice production increase- by 231 thousand metric tons.

The production of vegetables and fruits was also on rise this year, thereby ensuring all time availability of fresh vegetables. The fruit market has the domination of nationally produced orange, banana and mango, which is a positive development indeed.

The country is on its way to self sufficiency on livestock products- meat, milk and egg.

Ring Road expansion to begin soon: Minister Dahal

Minister for Physical Infrastructure and Transport Devendra Dahal has said works under the second section of the Kathmandu Ring Road expansion project would be started soon.

Responding to queries raised by lawmakers during an emergency and zero hours in today’s meeting of the House of Representatives (HoR), he shared that the construction ofa ‘service lane’ was underway on the second section of the ring road.

Minister Dahal said that the remaining construction work will start with the support of the Chinese government in some time as all the preparatory works of the main lane have already been completed. He added that the Ministry has taken initiatives to increase the capital expenditures.

According to Dahal, the expected results have been achieved in the construction and upgradation of national highways including Nagdhunga-Muglin, BP Highway, North-South Corridor and East-West Highway.

He said, “The construction of 41 bridges has been completed and the breakthrough of the Siddhababa Tunnel made as of mid-January 2025. A total of three kilometres of track and 246 km of two-lane road have been blacktopped and 30 km of road towards six lanes have been completed.”

Stating that the target of distribution of driving licenses has not been met due to technical reasons, Minister Dahal said that the issuing of ‘smart cards’ has been expedited.

“In the meantime, 900 thousand smart licenses were supposed to be distributed, but only 169,439 have been printed and distributed. For two to three months, the card printing machine did not work, there are many problems, those problems have been solved and card printing works have been accelerated,” he said.

Minister Dahal stated that the issues raised by the lawmakers regarding the ministry have been taken seriously and expressed commitment to resolve those issues. RSS