The flyovers will be built at Koteshwor, the airport, Gausala, Chabahil, Gongabu, Balaju, Jawalakhel, Kalanki and Maharajgunj.

The first-phase construction will begin at Koteshwor, Kalanki and Maharajgunj, according to an official at the Ministry of Finance.

The government has sent a formal request to the Chinese and is awaiting a reply.

The Chinese government had accepted Nepal's request for funding for the construction of flyovers under the Kathmandu Valley Road Improvement Project during the last Nepal-China Inter-governmental Meeting held in July 2007.

As per the preliminary understanding reached on the project, the Chinese government will extend both financial and technical assistance for the construction.

"Along with the construction of flyovers, the project will also increase the width of the Ring Road and construct

sidewalks" the source said.

Once the government receives the acceptance letter -- which is a foregone conclusion -- the Nepali side will prepare detailed reports for the project and forward them to the Chinese side.

The design and cost of the project will be known only after the detailed report is prepared.

China has already committed an annual assistance of 100 million RMB (about Rs 1 billion) to fund mutually agreed projects.

Now questions arise, will the proposed flyovers evoke the heritage of art and architecture of the Kathmandu Valley or will they be like any other flyovers that one does come across in the metropolitan areas of China, for that matter, in any other metropolises in the world? I think it is the right time to draw the attention of the urban planners as well as the guardians of art and culture of the Valley and the Chinese minds that are going to be involved into this important project for the Kathmandu city. One may argue that the concerned Chinese designers have every right to construct the proposed flyovers with any formats and designs as they like. Why should the Chinese authorities, for that matter, any donor nations bother about the local architecture of the Valley, and who are we to impose them to do this or that since it is not our money that is involved into such projects? One may wonder why to bother about art and aesthetics in highways since they are used for commercial purposes not for any creative and cultural purposes? The problem starts from here.

Despite all that we argue that the proposed plan must address the heritage of Newar architecture of the Valley. My belief is that the heritage of traditional Newa architecture must remain the principal moot of every step of the urban planning either carried out by the locals or by the donor nations in the present as well as the future Kathmandu. This is a matter of great significance. In fact, Kathmandu's architectural heritage is in severe crisis. Some great efforts need to be made not only to rescue and renovate traditional buildings and temples but also, which I think is very important, to create something new out of the 'grammar and vocabularies' of the traditional Newa architectural aesthetics in contemporary times. It is high time that we defined traditional Newa performing arts in the new social, developmental and political contexts of Nepal, for that matter of Kathmandu.

Flyovers may be new for the Kathmandu city. But they can not be taken as objects beyond the grasp of architectural outfit of those trained in the traditional form of art and crafts of constructing bridges, houses, pillars, bricks, railings and so on. We can argue here that the proposed flyovers can be an architectural text written or constructed out of the bricolage of traditional architectural order of the Valley. Such flyovers can become a modern interpretation of traditional architectural heritage of the Valley too. Such act will also be of significance for both the developmental as well as intellectual efforts made to address the spirit of Nepal as a nation now going through a process of federal restructuring. Moreover, flyovers have universal forms of global architectural deigns, and any global phenomena can be 'taken up, struggled over, and refracted for site-specific purposes' as the postmodern cultural theorists would argue. Therefore, the Newa traditional architectural poetics can interpret the flyovers in its own 'grammar and vocabularies', and by doing so it can prove itself as an active local agent in a global context.  Such will be a powerful act of evocation of the glorious history and heritage of Newa art and architecture in the present times.

The proposed flyovers can open a new era in the history of urban planning in Kathmandu if they are to be designed according to the poetics of the Newa architecture. They can send a powerful message to the locals as well as to the donor nations about the possibilities of performing the traditional architectural forms in the new modes of the contemporary times. They can influence the minds involved in the construction-business in Kathmandu. Moreover, they as strong visual signs of the metropolis that can help transform the look of the city as well. Therefore, this developmental event can be used as an important opportunity.

Interestingly, the proposed Chinese support can be taken as an evocation of the history carved out by Araniko, an architect of the medieval Newa: nation. Araniko was a very powerful architect who spread the Newar architectural form chaitya in China. The very chaitya is taken as an important metaphor of the Nepal-China diplomatic as well as cultural relationship by both countries even to this day. The proposed flyovers can also be given a hybrid look, i.e. they can be composed out of the traditional Chinese and Newar architectural forms. As a result, they can create a new discourse not only in the history of Kathmandu's urban planning but also in the annals of China-Nepal cultural and developmental relationship. They can, metaphorically speaking, be the new route in the diplomatic and cultural relationships between Nepal and China, or any donor nations, for that matter. The proposed flyovers will not only help the vehicles and passengers reach their destinations in time but can also lead us to the realization of the new modes of urban aesthetics and cultural activism in Kathmandu. Let's make a creative use of this opportunity.