सिंहदरबार संवाददाता
Nawalparasi. The work of expanding the Narayangadh-Butwal section of the East-West Highway, which has been taken forward as a project of national pride, has gained momentum. Engineer Shiva Khanal, Information Officer of the Narayanghat-Butwal Road Project Eastern Section, informed that work is currently underway to blacktop 18 different places in the eastern section.
‘This February, work is underway to blacktop one-way from Gaindakot to Dumkiba,’ he said. ‘Work is underway to blacktop 18 places on the road except for the places where bridges and culverts are located.’ Stating that the bridge and culvert part of the 65-kilometer road in the eastern section is about three kilometers, he said that 40 kilometers of one-way blacktop from Gaindakot to Daunne has now been blacktopped.
When counting the blacktop of the two-lane road, he said that about 64 km of the road has been blacktopped. Now that about 22 km of the road has been blacktopped, the blacktop work on the single-lane road from Narayanghat to Daunne will be completed, said Information Officer Engineer Khanal.
‘The plan is to blacktop one-way up to Daunne this month,’ he said. ‘Since 103 culverts need to be constructed in the Daunne area, we are working to complete the blacktop up to Dumkibas.’ He said that while constructing culverts on the narrow road in Daunne, vehicles have to be driven one-way, and it will take some time to blacktop up to Daunne. He said that 550 workers, including graders, loaders, and excavators, are working hard at 18 locations for the road expansion. Stating that the physical progress of the road has been 53.3 percent so far, he said that 1.43 percent progress has been made in a month.
‘Five kilometers of blacktop were added in January, and preparations are underway for another 12 kilometers of blacktop,’ he said. Work is underway in the Danda, CG, and Arunkhola market areas near the Narayani bridge in Gaindakot. Information Officer Engineer Khanal informed that work is also underway to blacktop an area of about eight kilometers in the forest area of Dumkibas. The contract for the construction of this section was awarded to the Chinese construction company ‘China State Construction Engineering Corporation Limited’ through a global bidding process. On Magh 22, 2075 BS, a contract agreement was signed between the government and the construction company to complete the work by Shrawan 22, 2079 BS.
The 114 km road was divided into two sections, Gaindakot-Daunne (65 km) and Daunne-Butwal 949 km), and China State Construction was awarded the responsibility of constructing both sections in the bid. The formal work of expanding the road began on Chaitra 8, 2075 BS, after the then Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli laid the foundation stone of both sections from Butwal.
After not even a quarter of the work was completed within the stipulated time, the deadline was extended for the first time to Shrawan 8, 2080 BS, and for the second time to Shrawan 8, 2081 BS. The construction company has extended the contract agreement three times citing various problems including COVID-19 and shortage of construction materials. The government has extended the deadline for the third time to complete the construction by 24th July.
The construction company, which had not completed the work for four months after the deadline was extended, resumed work in December 2024 after the government sent a letter to take action against the company. The two-lane road will be expanded to four lanes and a ‘greenery’ will be placed between each two lanes. The contract agreement has been signed to plant trees in the three-meter intervals. After the road expansion, the width of the road on both sides will be 7/7 meters. A 6/6 meter ‘service lane’ will also be constructed in the market area.
An additional service lane will be constructed on the 17.6-kilometer road in the market area. The plan states that a service lane will be constructed in the market area for public vehicles to pick up and drop off passengers. The 42.7 km section of the road will be four-lane, while the five km section of the road will be three-lane.
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