KASKI, April 9: A high-level team including Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Home Affairs, Narayan Kaji Shrestha, inspected the ongoing expansion and upgrading works on the Prithvi Highway today. The highway connects Pokhara, the capital of Gandaki Province, to the federal capital, Kathmandu.
The team made an on-site observation of the road expansion and upgrading works. The team comprised 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 starting 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 Mugling-Pokhara Road Section Expansion Project.
According to him, the monitoring that started in the western section will be carried out up to Mugling, 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 showed interest in completing the road expansion within the deadline by resolving the problems seen in the project.
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).
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 42 months since the signing of the contract in May 2022.
(RSS)