Gandaki. Forgetting the dust and mud that they faced during the construction phase, the general public will now be able to travel on the four-lane Pokhara-Muglin road. The project office has stated that if there are no obstacles in the construction, the road upgrading work will be completed by the coming winter.
The expansion and upgrading work of the Pokhara-Muglin road under the Prithvi Highway, which was built fifty years ago, began in Baisakh 2078 BS. The physical progress of the eastern section (Jamune-Muglin) of the road, which is the ‘lifeline’ of Gandaki Province, has reached 82.95 percent so far and 50.34 percent in the western section (Pokhara-Jamune).
According to Bishnu Prasad Pandey, Engineer and Information Officer of the Eastern Section, only three km of the total 41.45 km section remains to be blacktopped. ‘The blueprint has reached the final stage, about two km of the road between Damauli and Dumre Bazaar has been made six-lane, and the rest is four-lane,’ he said, ‘The goal is to complete the work on the eastern section by the upcoming Ashar.’
Engineer Pandey said that 17 small and large concrete bridges in the eastern section were built last year. He said that the ‘Signature’ bridge to be built on the Madi River in Tanahun is being built through a separate contract. Engineer Pandey said that although there were some delays in the initial phase due to the Covid epidemic and other reasons, road construction work has been going on at a rapid pace recently.
The construction company China Communication Construction had started work on the eastern section since Baisakh 2078 BS. The contract amount for the section is Rs 6.21 billion 31 million. Krishna Bahadur Kunwar, head of the western section (Pokhara-Jamune) of the project, said that the one-way (two-lane) blacktop work on the section will be completed by the first week of Jestha.
He said that 35.5 km of one-way (two-lane) blacktop has been completed so far on the 38.88 km section. ‘Only about three km of one-way blacktop remains to be completed, 18 km of both sides have been blacktopped,’ said Project Chief Kunwar. ‘The target is to complete the two-way blacktopping of 30 km of both sides by the end of Ashar.’
One-way blacktopping remains to be completed in the areas of Amarsingh, Chauthe, Bijaypur, Talchowk and others in Kaski. One-way blacktopping has been completed from Pokhara International Airport to Seti Bridge, informed Project Chief Kunwar.
‘The delay in moving the electricity poles is also affecting the road construction,’ he said. ‘About four hundred electricity poles still need to be removed.’ He said that since the contract period is until next December, the work has been accelerated to complete the blacktop during that period.
He said that after the blacktop is completed, the work on sidewalks, road safety, etc. will begin. A six-lane road will be built for a distance of 18.5 km in the western section and a four-lane road in the rest. ‘The road has been expanded to six lanes because there is more urban area in this section,’ said Project Chief Kunwar. ‘Six-lane roads have also been constructed in Dulegaudha and Khairenitar towards Tanahun.’
10 of the 12 bridges in the western section have been built. Bridge construction work is underway in Bijaypur of Kaski and Sheratar of Tanahun.
Project Chief Kunwar said that the ‘Signature’ bridge on the Seti River in Pokhara is being built through a separate contract. He said that the physical progress of the bridge has reached 44.66. The construction contract for the bridge using ‘cable-stayed’ technology has been taken by Rasuwa Construction.
The attractive bridge is being built at a contract of Rs 940 million excluding VAT. The agreement was signed on Jestha 2, 2078 BS, and work began on Bhadra 12, 2078 BS on the western section connecting Jamunekhi in Tanahun to the tourist capital Pokhara. Chinese construction company Yanhui Kaiyuan Highway and Bridge Construction was awarded the contract for the western section at a cost of Rs 7.4 billion 4.6 billion.
As most of the places on both sections have been blacktopped on one side, travel on the Pokhara-Muglin road is becoming easier.
After the blacktopping on both sides is completed, travel from Pokhara to Kathmandu, Narayangadh and other destinations will be much shorter. The Pokhara-Muglin road, which is a total of 81 km long, is being expanded and upgraded with the help of a loan from the Asian Development Bank. Tourism entrepreneurs in Pokhara, among others, have been pressuring to accelerate the construction of this road project, which is a priority for the government.
It is believed that the upgrade of the main road connecting the capital of Gandaki Province will help increase economic and tourism activities in the region. The obligation of tourists and the general public to travel for hours in dust and mud while traveling to and from Pokhara will also end forever.
Pokhara Metropolitan City-10 Ward Chairman Rajesh Gurung said that the removal of structures including statues during the road expansion has made Pokhara’s squares look open and attractive.
The squares have been widened by removing structures that do not meet standards in places such as Amarsingh Chowk, Arghaun Chowk, Buddha Chowk, Tal Chowk. ‘It is necessary to raise awareness among the general public about road safety as the risk of accidents is also higher on wide roads,’ said Ward Chairman Gurung.
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