A high-level team including the Deputy Prime Minister inspected the ongoing expansion and upgrading works on the Prithvi Highway today. The highway connects Pokhara, the capital of Gandaki Province and the federal capital, Kathmandu.
The team made an on-site observation of the road expansion and upgrading works. The team comprised of Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Home Affairs Narayan Kaji Shrestha, Minister for Physical Infrastructure and Transport Prakash Jwala, Pokhara Metropolitan City mayor Dhanaraj Acharya, Ambassador of China to Nepal Chen Song, Secretary at the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport, Sushil Babu Dhakal among other officials.
The team made the inspection in the wake of the delay in the road expansion and improvement project. The project has made only six percent physical progress since it was initiated last year.
The high-level team started the inspection and monitoring this morning from the Seti river bridge, the initial point of the project's western sector.
It acquired information on the progress of work so far, the reasons for the delay and problems encountered, said Amit Kumar Shrestha, Chief of the Muglin-Pokhara Road Section Expansion Project.
According to him, the monitoring that started in the western section will be carried out up to Muglin, including the eastern sector. "The high-level team including the DPM and Home Minister and the Minister for Physical Infrastructure, has arrived for the inspection cum monitoring visit following the delay in carrying ahead works in the western sector," he said.
During the inspection, discussions were also held on the ways of expediting the construction works after the delay by the construction company. Project Chief Shrestha added that all the members of the team have shown interest towards completing the road expansion on deadline by resolving the problems seen in the Project.
On the occasion, the monitoring team directed the government to resolve the problems seen in the project and the representative of the construction company to complete the road construction within the stipulated time.
The Project stated that there were problems in relocating the power cables and water supply pipes and vacating the houses by providing compensation to the occupants of these houses falling under the criteria for the road expansion.
The two-lane road from Pokhara to Muglin is to be expanded to four-lane with the concessional loan assistance of the Asian Development Bank (ADB).
Works have been pursued by dividing the stretch of the highway from Pokhara to Muglin into two sections for completing the road expansion works at the earliest. The western section stretches 39 kilometres from the Seti river bridge at Prithvichowk in Pokhara to Jamune of Tanahu. The Muglin-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 kilometres 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 42 months since the signing of the contract in May 2022.
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