Mott MacDonald | Unlocking Opportunities for the Private Sector in Nepal Promoting greener and more inclusive growth
● Poorly designed roads. Many roads have design flaws such as narrow width lane, lack of safety barriers, lane markings or drainage systems, thin or low-quality surfacing). Increased vehicles traffic, heavy trucks and monsoon rains lead to quick deterioration and surface cracks and potholes. During rainy season the risk of landslides or floods that may block roads, is significantly increased. (WFP n.d.) ● Inequitable spatial distribution of road facilities. Most of the strategic road networks are concentrated in the lowland. In hill areas, one-third of residents walk more than four hours to reach an all-season road and this is worse in the mountain regions (Paudel 2019). Poor road infrastructure makes transport risky and causes prices of basic commodities to increase significantly during rainy season.
5.3
Unreliable electric/power utilities
A greater percentage of respondents in Karnali suffer from unreliable electric power utilities than in Lumbini and Province 2. Among the three provinces, Karnali has the lowest electricity access at 34.5%. Electricity access in Province 2 and Lumbini is at 99.05% and 91%, respectively (MoPID 2021). Industrial estates and SEZ in these provinces have suboptimal performance due to electricity problems among others.
Figure 25. Extent that unreliable electric utilities hinder business growth
Incidence of power outages in 2020 was higher compared to the last four years. The outages were attributed to ‘forced load-shedding’ to meet the demand. (Ghimire 2021). Others attributed the outages to poorly maintained transmission lines and low water level in rivers (Kumar 2020).
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