Kathmandu – Hetauda Fast Track Highway: A Viable Alternative for Sustainable Transportation Network

This presentation was made on Saturday, 29th March, 2009 in First International Conference on "Development Issues, Challenges, and Strategies for Nepal" organized by Nepalese Student Association, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, NM, U.S.A. 

View more presentations from Desh Sonyok

Hangdewa Landslide, Taplejunung, Eastern Nepal

I am going to post my email reply about Hangewa landslide to Badri Vinod Dahal, who is working in Taplejung in the field of Natural Resource Management. Badri jii wanted to know more about the landslide for its long term management. Since, my last field visit was in 2001, my knwoledge on Hangdewa landslidle is not up to date. Nonetheless, I hope this posting would help provide basic information about the Hangdewa-Hireba landslides.

Landslides in both Hangdewa and Hireba rivers are huge scale and very complicated. Types of mass movement are complex. The mass movement type varies in different parts of the slide area. In fact, these landslides are formed by the combination of various individual slides. Therefore, these landslides are very unique in its nature. Most probably, it provides typical example of complicated landslide in the world. An important parameter in landslide control is its depth of slip surface. In both Hangdewa and Hireba landslides, depth of slip surface varies from shallow to very deep. In some areas, it could be exceed 10 meters whereas in some areas, the slip surface simply represents the soil rock interface

Figure: Landslide distribution map of Hangdewa - Hireba watershed (2001)

First international symposium on “Development Issues, Challenges, and Strategies for Nepal

Nepalese Students’ Association (NeSA) at New Mexico State University (NMSU) organized its first international symposium on “Development Issues, Challenges, and Strategies for Nepal.” Keynote speaker, Dr. Alok Bohora, Professor of Economics at University of New Mexico, highlighted the “smart village” concept of economic e-development in Nepal while addressing the current political transitions in Nepal. Similarly, the invited speakers Rachel Stevens, Associate professor at NMSU recounted her 5-month long research on Nepalese Arts and Sculpture of Patan, Lalitpur and Dr. Rajat Rajbhandari from Texas Transportation Institute, El Paso, delivered a talk on growing traffic congestion in Kathmandu and possible solutions via information technology.

In the mean while, other six speakers, mainly Ph. D. scholars, from NMSU and University of Texas, El Paso, presented their talks on wide range of issues. Marohang Limbu advocated for the place of World Englishes, including Nepanglish in the US academic writing while appraising the current traditions of teaching English as Second Language (ESL) by the US academia. Emphasizing on holistic education, Binod Gurung stated that education has changing roles in Nepal that should empower children and youth to meet 21^st century personal, ecological, and market goals. The symposium coordinator Desh Raj Sonyok, revealing the possibility of the shortest Kathmandu-Hetauda Fast Track Highway which includes tunnels, mentioned that it can be as much as 75% shorter than the existing Prithvi highways and reduces 7-8 hours of travel time to 1-2 hours. Having involved in the Hydroelectricity sector in Nepal, Suresh Gautam, concluded that present day electricity crisis can only be resolved through strong commitment of implementing short term and long term action plans in Nepal. In the end, Kiran Spakota and Saran Rai discussed the health scenarios in Nepal and South Asia in general. 

The program was chaired by Dr. Ram N. Acharya, Asst. professor at NMSU and facilitated by NeSA President Hikmat Bahadur B.C. The symposium coordinator, Mr. Sonyok, in his concluding remarks said “The first symposium has been acclaimed as a huge success in addressing development issues at the outset of reconstruction and political transition in Nepal.”

Prof. Dr. Alok Bohara, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM

Associate Prof. Dr. Ram Acharya, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, NM

Associate Prof. Rachel Stevens, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, NM

Dr. Rajat Raj Bhandari, Texas Transportation Institute (TII) , El Paso, TX

Desh Raj Sonyok, Program Coordinator, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, NM

Presentation Schedule

Nepalese Students’ Association, New Mexico State University

Presentation Schedule

Development Issues, Challenges, and Strategies for Nepal

Saturday, March 21, 2009

New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, NM

10:45 – 11:00 Registration (O'Donnell Hall # 111, NMSU)

11:00 – 11:10 Welcome and Opening Comments

President: Hikmat BC

Advisor: Ram N. Acharya, Ph.D., Assistant Professor

Session Chairperson: Ram N. Acharya, Ph.D., Assistant Professor

11:10 – 11:35 Decolonizing ESL Minds in Writing: Student Voice and Resistance as Power

Marohang Limbu, Ph.D. Student, University of Texas, El Paso

11:35 – 12:00 Rachel Stevens and Sulav Studios: Art and Friendship in Southern Patan

Stevens Rachel, Associate Professor, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces

12:00 – 12:25 Educating Nepalese Children and Youths: For Equity, Social Justice, Subjectivity and Creativity

Binod Gurung, Ph.D. Student, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces

12:25 – 13:10 Lunch Break

Session Chairperson: Hikmat BC, Ph.D. Student, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces

13:10 – 13:55 Creating Smart Villages Using Smart Design

Alok Bohara, Ph.D., Professor, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque

13:55 – 14:20 Synopsis of Growing Urban Traffic Congestion in Nepal

Rajat Rajbhandari, Ph.D., Texas Transportation Institute, El Paso

14:20 – 14:45 Kathmandu-Hetauda Fast Track Highway: Viable Alternative for Sustainable Transportation Network

Desh R. Sonyok, Ph.D. Student, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces

14:45 – 15:00 Break

Session Chairperson: Shiva Prasad Pokharel, Ph.D. Student, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces

15:00 – 15:25 Electricity in Nepal: Problems and Proposed Solutions

Suresh Gautam, Ph.D. Student, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces

15:25 – 15:50 Public Health Problems and Burden of Disease in Nepal: Challenges and Prospects

Kiran Sapkota, MPH Student, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces

15:50 – 16:15 Heart Disease in the South Asian Countries

Saran Rai, MPH Student, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces

Closing: Vote of Thanks by Program Coordinator, Desh Raj Sonyok

Contact for further detail:

Program Coordinator

Desh Raj Sonyok
Email: sonyok@gmail.com