Construction on the Suryabinayak Dhulikhel road Banepa section has resumed after a long dispute over the road alignment had kept the work stalled, Infrastructure Development Minister Sunil Lamsal announced on his Facebook page on October 29, 2026. Crews are now removing the old road surface in the Banepa market area, and the minister says blacktopping there will be completed within the next two months.
The dispute centred on the road centreline and on intersections in the Banepa market area. According to the minister, the stalled construction moved forward only after repeated facilitation by the ministry, which finally produced a settlement. With that dispute resolved, the Banepa market stretch, long left unfinished while the rest of the corridor advanced, is now under active construction again.
Suryabinayak Dhulikhel road Banepa section: what remains
The minister also gave the wider picture for the Sanga to Dhulikhel section. Including the service lane, that section measures 7.9 kilometres in total. Blacktopping is already complete on 6.5 kilometres of it. The remaining 1.4 kilometres will be upgraded to four lanes with a service lane, and the minister says that work will be completed within this year.
That leaves the Banepa market area as the key remaining gap rather than a long unfinished stretch. Once the 1.4 kilometres are upgraded, the Sanga to Dhulikhel section will be complete as a four-lane road with a service lane, removing one of the last bottlenecks on this corridor east of Kathmandu Valley.
Why the Banepa stretch matters
Banepa is a busy market town in Kavrepalanchok district on the route east from Kathmandu Valley, and its market area carries heavy daily traffic from shoppers, traders and through travellers. An unfinished, disputed stretch through the middle of town therefore affects far more people than its short length suggests, slowing journeys and complicating business in the market area itself. Completing the blacktopping within two months, as promised, would restore normal movement through the town before the section upgrade finishes later in the year.
The Suryabinayak to Dhulikhel road forms part of the Araniko Highway corridor, the main eastern route out of Kathmandu Valley toward Kavrepalanchok and beyond. Progress here also connects with other road works around Dhulikhel, including the Bhakunde to Mamti road progress reported earlier: https://eve-construction.com/bhakunde-mamti-road-construction-progress/
Suryabinayak Dhulikhel road Banepa progress in context
The resumption also fits the ministry’s recent push on stalled road works. On the same week, the minister terminated the contract for a 9.5 kilometre section of the Mechi Corridor after that deal reached only about 47 percent physical progress in 63 months: https://eve-construction.com/mechi-corridor-contract-terminated/
In Banepa, the approach is different: instead of ending the contract, the ministry mediated the underlying dispute and restarted the work. Whether the two month blacktopping target is met will be the first test of that settlement, followed by the completion of the remaining 1.4 kilometres to four lanes within this year.
Source: Minister Sunil Lamsal’s Facebook post, October 29, 2026: https://www.facebook.com/reel/1122096387192106