Kathmandu, April 29

The local government at Nagdhunga, a major entry point to Kathmandu valley, is about to complete the construction of the country’s first vehicle disinfection tunnel in a bid to fight the novel coronavirus.

Chandragiri Municipality, with the support of Sundar Transportation Pvt Ltd and security forces will operate the tunnel, which is set to become operational from tomorrow.

According to the local government, there will two disinfection tunnel one each for passenger vehicles and vehicles carrying essential goods.

Each vehicle is required to go through the tunnel which will spray disinfectant on such vehicles from outside. Chandragiri Municipality’s mayor Ghanashyam Giri said the disinfectant was imported from China, and is the same as the one used in Wuhan city, the epicentre of COVID-19.

Sundar Transportation will support by providing the disinfectant while the local government will support operation of the system, while Nepal police personnel will regulate it. On an average of around 1,000 vehicles carrying essential goods enter Kathmandu valley daily through Nagdhunga.

On regular days, around 14,000 to 15,000 vehicles used to enter the valley while around 5,000 vehicles used to go out of the valley.

A version of this article appears in e-paper on April 30, 2020 of The Himalayan Times.