DAMAULI, DECEMBER 29
Amid criticisms for the delay in project advancement, the project developers are working to blacktop the west section of the Mugling-Pokhara Road Expansion Project from the first week of February 2024.
Currently, the workers there are working to fix the base along the Jamune-Pokhara road section to commence the blacktop starting next month, Project Engineer Narayan Prasad Poudel said. He added that the base work of around 2 kilometres has been completed.
So far, the achievement of the Jamune-Pokhara road section is just 14 per cent.
According to Poudel, 60 Nepali and 50 Chinese engineers and more than 400 other workers are deployed in the section to expedite the construction works.
Width of the road at Dulegaunda bazaar and main market areas will be 46 metres while it will be 18 metre from Jamune to Kumlekhola section and 23 metres wide in rest of the other sections.
Works have been pursued by dividing the stretch of the highway from Pokhara to Mugling into two sections for completing the road expansion works at the earliest. The western section stretches 39 kilometers from the Seti river bridge at Prithvi Chowk in Pokhara to Jamune of Tanahun. The Mugling-Pokhara Road Project with its office in Pokhara looks after this section while the Project's office set up at Gunadi looks after the 43 kilometers eastern section from Jamune to Aanbukhaireni.
A contract has been signed with the Chinese company, Anhui Kaiyuan Highway and Bridge Co Ltd, China for the construction of the western sector. The project cost is Rs 7 billion 404 million and 600 thousand. The project deadline is 16 August, 2024, which is 42 months since the signing of the contract.
The two-lane road from Pokhara to Mugling is to be expanded into a four-lane road with the concessional loan assistance of the Asian Development Bank (ADB).
