Roads, Regimes And Reliance

Nepal’s political history is long. Its road history is short. Completed in 1917, the Amlekhgunj-Bhimphedi Road is the first motorable road and the 500-metre-long Churiyamai Tunnel is the first road tunnel of Nepal. Infrastructure Development Minister Sunil Lamsal, Japanese Ambassador to Nepal Maeda Toru, and President of Japan International Cooperation Agency Akihiko Tanaka jointly inaugurated Nagdhunga Tunnel on Tribhuvan Highway on July 27, 2026. Mainstream news media reports adjectivised it as the country’s first road tunnel. No one remembered Dilli Jung Thapa and the road and the tunnel he engineered. This is an insult and an injustice to history. History may be forgotten, but it never forgives.