NepalTRANSPORTATION, NEPAL
Various modes of transportation on New Road, Kathmandu
Courtesy Harvey Follender
Figure 9. Nepal: Transportation System, 1991
Source: Based on information from Frederick H. Gaige, Regionalism and
National Unity in Nepal, Berkeley, 1975, 36; and Pitamber Sharma,
Urbanization inf Nepal, Honolulu, 1989, 132.
The inadequacy of the transportation system assured its
high
priority in all development plans. Nonetheless, budget
allocations
for transport and communications declined by more than
half from
the Fifth Five-Year Plan (1975-80) to the Seventh
Five-Year Plan
(1985-90). Before 1960 the bulk of goods transported used
human
labor and animals. Since 1960 the building of paved roads
has
helped make the transportation of both goods and people
more
accessible although the infrastructure remained
underdeveloped
(see
fig. 9). By the early 1990s, however, the major modes of
transportation were by road or by air, although trails
still were
used to transport goods.
The 1989 trade and transit dispute with India in also
affected
the transportation system. There were acute shortages of
coal and
petroleum products as well as spare parts supplied by
India. These
shortages hampered the domestic transport system, which in
turn
affected service industries and tourism.
Data as of September 1991
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