Authors : Subash Kumar Bhattarai
DOI : 10.24321/2456.9925.202112
Volume : 6
Issue : 4
Year : 2021
Page No : 31-35
Among the various tourist destination of Small world Nepal, Pokhara and Lumbini are the two most visited places by people, inside as well as outside the country. Pokhara, the beauty of Nepal serves as the capital of Gandaki Province. Pokhara is also considered as the tourism capital in Nepal. Within 30 kilometers (19 miles), the elevation rises from 850 to 7,500 meters. Among the total tourist entering Nepal, more than 20% of them visit PokharaLumbini, the birthplace of Gautam Buddha is a Buddhist pilgrimage site in Rupandehi District of Province - 5. Lumbini has several ancient temples, including the Mayadevi Temple and various new temples, funded by Buddhist organizations from various countries. Most of them have been completed while others are still under construction, which has been encouraging pilgrimage tourism in Nepal. Siddhartha highway connects Mahendra highway at Butwal with a total length of 181 m. It connects Pokhara and Lumbini. The road remains in such a terrible condition that even light vehicles cannot ply on it. Drivers have a hard time operating public buses on the route, as the potholes are so large that they have almost reduced the highway into a one-lane road.At present the travel time from Pokhara to Butwal through Siddhartha Highway is 6 hours with high number of bends increasing the chances of accidents on the road. There have been many cases of vehicles colliding and off-tracking from the road towards the river. To minimize the travel time as well as the distance of travel, we came up with an idea of “Pokhara - Butwal Expressway”.