Ratnanagar, December 25

Tourist buses will now be allowed access through the under construction Narayangadh-Muglin road stretch during the daily routine closure.

Chitwan’s Chief District Officer (CDO), Narayan Bhatta, has issued an instruction for access to tourist buses and asked any vehicles carrying tourists to inform the local authorities.

Vehicles carrying tourists to Chitwan were diverted to other destinations when the main road remains closed from 11am to 3pm. This had prompted the tourism entrepreneurs in Chitwan to press the local administration to issue the instruction.

Tourist entrepreneur, Suman Ghimire, said that as the elephant festival is just around the corner the closure of the route will create a big problem. Chitwan’s police chief, Deepak Thapa, said that buses with green registration number plates are now being escorted by the police through the road.

The narrow road stretch is currently being expanded due to which it is closed routinely for work, said Shiva Khanal, an engineer with the Narayangadh Muglin Road Project. The routine closure will continue for the next four months, he added.

The routine closure from 11am to 3pm on a daily basis started on December 22. The road project has appealed to drivers to use alternate routes during this time of the day.

The road expansion which started in April, 2015 will be completed by April next year. The Narayangadh Muglin Road Project is being undertaken with support of the World Bank and Nepal India Regional Trade and Transport Project with an investment of Rs 2.9 billion. The road stretch will be widened from 9.5 metres to 11 metres at various sections.

Khanal confided that only 33 per cent of work has been completed against the earlier plan of completing 50 per cent by this time of the year.