Kathmandu, January 16

The Nepali Army today said it will prepare the detailed project report (DPR) for the Kathmandu-Tarai Fast Track road project afresh and not purchase the one prepared by an Indian company.

Organising a press meet at the NA headquarters here, the project’s deputy chief Brigadier General Surya Prasad Khanal said the NA decided to prepare the DPR on its own after India’s IL&FS demanded ‘exorbitant price’ for the DPR.

“We can prepare another DPR on our own at a relatively low cost,” Khanal said, adding that the NA would continue constructing the road on the basis of a feasibility study conducted by Asian Development Bank in 2008. “The feasibility report will give us the basic guideline for construction.”

He also said preliminary work such as clearing landslide debris from the road track, track expansion, and building drainage structure and retaining walls would be completed within a year. He said NA could complete the new DPR within five months.

Once completed the 67.5-km expressway will connect the capital to the southern plains in less than an hour’s drive. The four-lane national pride road project will have 99 bridges and a twin tunnel.

The government decided to confer the road construction to NA on May 4 and formally handed over the project in August 11 with a four-year deadline. NA has already opened pilot track of the road in 2004. Since the formal takeover, NA has established five camps in Makhubesi, Sisneri Dovan, Lendanda, Budhune and Bag Dev area to ensure security and facilitate the construction. NA also began constructing the road after buying some heavy equipment and began track clearance by cutting trees in Bara district and managing the landslide-debris in various parts of the track.

Brigadier General Khanal also said land compensation distribution in major parts of Makawanpur district has been completed and some disputes remained to be settled in Khokana area of Lalitipur. NA also completed felling trees along an 8-km section in Bara district. Khanal said the NA would call national and international tenders for work beyond its capacity.

NA is facing some challenge like avoiding intersection with Kanti Highway, outsourcing complicated construction works and settling land acquisition disputes in Khokana.