• The cost of the national pride project has gone up due to delay in construction

Hetauda, August 24 Province 3 government has decided to urge the central government to scrap the agreement signed for the construction of Hetauda-Kulekhani-Kathmandu tunnel road with Nepal Infrastructure Development Company some seven years ago. A meeting of the province government held on Tuesday had decided to urge the federal government to scrap the agreement as the contractor company didn’t begin construction even after a long time, stated the Office of the Chief Minister today. Chief Minister Dormani Poudel claimed that the province government itself would take responsibility of constructing the tunnel road as it was a national pride project. “As the contractor didn’t take any initiatives for the construction of the tunnel road, we took the decision to this effect,” said CM Poudel. The province government has also released Rs 50 million for the DPR of the project, which has been named Post Bahadur Bogati Hetauda-Kathmandu Tunnel Road. CM Poudel said it was a dream project of the government for the past two decades. “Though it has been almost a decade since the contractor company signed the agreement, nothing has been done so far,” he said. Three persons Kush Kumar Joshi, Lal Krishna Shrestha and Bhaban Bhatta led the company but could not take any concrete initiatives for the project due to clashes among the committee members,” said CM Poudel. The distance between Kathmandu and Hetauda now is 80 km which will be reduced to 50 km after construction of the tunnel. The cost of the project was initially estimated at Rs 16.5 billion, which has risen to Rs 45 billion now. The company was planning to collect Rs 35 billion from the non-resident Nepalis and industrialists in Nepal. As per the plan, Rs 31.75 billion was collected from them. The Hetauda folks had also shown keen interest in the project. Makawanpur Chambers of Commerce, Industry Association Hetauda and Narayani Transportation Entrepreneurs Association, among others, have also invested in the project.