Kathmandu, Nepal
Nagdhunga Tunnel Construction Project affected families in the northwest of Kathmandu have today filed a complaint with the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) citing impactsof the project on their sources of drinking water and irrigation as well as damages to their houses and lands. In the complaint, they have alleged that the impacts contravene the JICA’s Guidelines for Environmental and Social Considerations and requested the Examiners for the Guidelines to investigate compliance of the project with the Guidelines and mediate to resolve dispute for ensuring remedies to the affected families.
The Nagdhunga Tunnel Construction Project is a 2.68 km road tunnel connecting Nagdhunga in Kathmandu with Sisne Khola in Dhading to the west. The Government of Nepal through the Department of Roads under the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport is implementing the project with funding support through a loan from JICA. The project aims to improve the highway traffic congestion and enhance transportation infrastructure in the region. Nagdhunga Sisne Khola Tunnel Affected Area Drinking Water Consumers Committee comprised of more than 650 households of ward No. 2 of Chandragiri municipality in Kathmandu organized under the filed the request with the the Examiners tasked with ensuring compliance with the JICA’s Guidelines.
As per the complaint, since construction began, the project has had severe impacts on local
communities and their environment:
- Over two dozen natural drinking water sources, which communities have relied on for generations, have dried up.
- Critical water sources used for irrigation have also disappeared, severely impacting local agriculture and livelihoods.
- More than 135 houses have developed structural cracks or sustained physical damage, and sinkholes have emerged on residential lands.
Although an Environmental Impact Assessment process was conducted with a public hearing, residents had conditionally agreed to the project based on assurances that modern, less destructive tunneling technologies would be used. In reality, however, the construction relied on drilling and blasting methods that the Committee asserts are the primary cause of the widespread damage.
The Committee has called for restoration of the traditional drinking water sources with guarantee that the project would cover all costs for the water supply system, and identification and development of alternative irrigation measures. They have also requested a full assessment of damages to the damaged houses and lands due to the construction of the tunnel and fair and timely compensation be provided those houses and lands. They have further demanded that the residents of the affected area should be given priority for employment opportunities during operation of the tunnel.
Earlier, on 1 July, the Committee had submitted a letter to the JICA Nepal Office requesting them to address their demands or get them addressed by the authorities after the project and national authorities failed to address their demands despite their continued struggles since 2022. More recently, the project and concerned authorities pushed through with the construction of the tunnel under heavy security presence to suppress the community’s peaceful protests the instead of honoring the agreements made with the Committee in the past and resolving their long-standing grievances. At present, the construction has reached its final stage without addressing their legitimate and unresolved issues. At the same time, the response from JICA Nepal office to the Committee’s letter has also not been satisfactory.
The Committee has thus alleged that the harms on the affected families could have been prevented or significantly reduced and managed if JICA had ensured proper implementation of its own Guidelines, particularly with regard to disclosure of accurate and timely information, protection of environmental resources, involuntary resettlement, and establishment of an effective grievance redress mechanism.