Hi Ali Madad Sakhirani,
Thanks for sharing the information,
Here, I want to elaborate the progress made by Nepal so far in SDG 9. Nepal has improved its
infrastructure. The length of roads reached 82,412 km in 2016 of which 14
percent was black-topped, 23 percent graveled and 63 percent earthen. The road
density was 0.44 km/sq2 in 2015/16. And 51.4 percent of people have access to a
paved road within 30 minutes’ walk. The construction of railroads has begun.
Connectivity by air transport is improving. Nepal has 33 airports in operation
and 25 domestic private airlines and 26 international airlines operating
flights in and to Nepal. The country’s tourism infrastructure is improving with
1,073 tourist standard hotels. Nepal has greatly improved its information and
communication technology infrastructure as the density of telephone users
reached 110 percent. In 2016, the share of industry in GDP was 15 percent, and
manufacturing value added as a proportion of GDP was 6.5 percent.
http://un.org.np/sites/default/files/National%20Review%20of%20SDG.pdf.
The targets for SDG 9 are to increase road density to 1.5 km per square km and paved road density to 0.25 km per square km, and to connect all districts, municipalities and village councils to the national road network. In industries, the target by 2030 is to increase the share of employment to 25 percent; within the subset of manufacturing, employment is to reach 13 percent.
SDG 9: Build resilient infrastructure and promote inclusive
industrialization.
Nepal needs resilient infrastructures. Nepal is located in a geologically fragile zone with
much seismic activity. The development of road, railway and air transport networks is
costly because of the rugged topography, and limited national investments and technical
know-how. All the same, the infrastructure has improved in recent years as a key
precondition for reducing poverty and for economic development.
Roads— The Ministry of Physical Infrasturcture and the Department of Roads have
built 27,990 km regional and strategic roads to 2014/15, which increased to 29,031 km in
2015/16 (MOF 2016).Forty-two percent of these roads are black topped, 23 percent
gravelled and 35 percent earthen. The government aims to build more resilient and black
topped roads to enable year-round transport.
Other programmes (the Rural Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Programme,
Decentralized Rural Infrastructure and Livelihood Improvement Project, the Rural
Access Programme, Local Level Roads, Bridges and Community Access Programme,
Constituency Development Programme, Rural Transportation Strengthening
Programme, Local Transportation Infrastructure Regional Programme, and the Rural
Infrastructure Development Programme) built 53,143 km rural roads to 2014/15 and an
additional 238 km of road in 2015/16 bringing the total to 53,381 km (MOF 2016).
Seventy-three percent of these roads are earthen, 24 percent are gravelled and3 percent
are black-topped (MOF 2016)although only 17,000 km is motorable year round.
Nepal thus has 82,812 km of roads of which 13,659 km (16%) is black topped. Road
density was 0.44 km/km2
in 2015/16 with the plan to increase it to 1.5 km/km2 by 2030
(NPC 2017b).The proportion of the population with access to a paved road within 30
minutes’ walk reached 51.4 percent in 2015.
Rail— The government has recently taken the initiative to extend its rail infrastructure
to improve connectivity with China and India. Four projects are planned or underway
that should foster economic development. The construction of the 945 km East-West
electric railroad across the southern plains has begun with the construction of the 108
km Bardibas–Simara section underway. Construction of the 69 km Jayanagar–
Janakpur–Bardibas railroad and the Bathnaha–Katahari–Birthnagar railroads is
underway with technical support from the Indian Government to link Nepal with India.
Studies are being carried out on building a 519 km Rashuwagadahi–Kathmandu–
Pokhara–Lumbini railroad with construction due to start in 2016/17–2018/19 to link
Nepal with China. And a monorail is planned in the Kathmandu Valley.
Air transport —Connectivity within and outside the country by air is improving. Nepal
has 33 airports in operation of which 22 operate year-round. Twenty-five private airlines
operating domestically, and 26 international airlines operate flights to Nepal. Thirtyeight
countries had signed bilateral service agreements to fly to as of 2016 (NPC 2017b).
The government is upgrading its air transport infrastructure by building new
international airports in Pokhara, Lumbini and at Nijgadh to increase international
connectivity.
Tourism— Nepal’s tourism infrastructures is improving. The country has 1,073 tourist
standard hotels, world class trekking trails, and 957 cultural heritage tourist attractions
(NPC 2017b). In 2015, 790,000tourists visited Nepal staying on an average 13 days and
spending $69per day (MOF 2016).The government aims to increase tourist arrivals to
1.34 million and increase length of stay to 15 days by 2020(MOTCA 2016).
Information and communication infrastructure— Nepal has made large progress
on developing its ICT infrastructures. In 2015/16 there were 672 FM radio stations, 88
television stations, 853 cable television operators, a density of telephone users of 110.25
percent, 46.6percent of people have access to the internet(MOF 2016). The government
aims to increase the density of telephone users to 117 and internet users to 65 percent,
and to expand the optical fiber network to all districts and municipalities by 2019 (NPC
2017b).
Inclusive industrialization—Nepal’s industrial development has faced labour,
power, capital, technology and unstable governance problems although the investment
climate is improving. The share of industry in GDP is 15 percent, manufacturing value
added as proportion of DGP is 6.5 percent and manufacturing employment as a
proportion of total employment is 6.6 percent (MOF 2016). Nepal's economy needs inclusive industrialization to move from an agrarian subsistence
economy to an industrialized economy. Nepal’s Industrial Policy, 2010 encourages the
use of local labour, raw materials, technology and domestic investment. In recent years,
the government has amended the labour law to promote more cordial relations between
employers and employees, improved the availability of energy, liberalized the import and
export of raw materials and products, provided tax concessions, promoted the use of
locally produced goods in public offices and invited foreign investment.
Science and technology for innovation— Nepal has made less progress on research
for technological innovation for industrialization and social development. Research and
development expenditure is only about 8 percent of GDP and only 6.8 percent of higher
education students enroll in science and technology courses. The government is
preparing a National Science, Technology and Innovation Policy and Strategy (2016-
2030). It plans to establish a science laboratory and a library for research and innovation
in a community school in each constituency and an Academy of Science and Technology
in each province. It also aims to establish a science study centre in public schools and is
upgrading the National Forensic Science Laboratory.
Best Regards !
Amit Dahit
