DAMAULI: Minister for Physical Infrastructure and Transportation, Devendra Dahal, conducted an onsite inspection of the under-construction Muglin-Pokhara road project on Friday evening.
The inspection covered the stretch from Aanbookhaireni in Tanahu district (eastern section) to Jamune near Pokhara (western section).
Expressing concern over the project’s pace, Minister Dahal urged officials to expedite the remaining work.
The project, funded by a concessional loan from the Asian Development Bank, aims to expand the existing two-lane road from Pokhara to Muglin into a four-lane highway to accommodate increasing traffic.
The contract for the eastern section was awarded to China Communications Construction Company at over Rs 6.21 billion, while Anhui Kaiyun Highway and Bridge Constructions secured the contract for the western section at over Rs 1.4 billion.
Minister Dahal assured that the government is committed to resolving issues hindering the project’s implementation.
According to Bishnu Prasad Pandey, engineer of the eastern section, this part of the project has achieved 65% physical progress.
Additionally, 55 km of the two-lane road has been blacktopped out of a total 63 km.
The construction of a bridge over the Madi River at Damauli has reached 30% completion.
Some delays were caused by the need to remove huts along the road at Dumre and Damauli Bazar, but these issues have been addressed.
So far, 14 small bridges, two large bridges, and 103 culverts have been constructed in the eastern section.
In the western section, 20 km of the two-lane road from Jamune to Pokhara has been blacktopped, although overall progress has been slower.
Engineer Narayan Paudel reported that five out of the planned 11 bridges have been completed, with superstructures for eight of the proposed 13 bridges now finished. Road upgrading in this section has reached 28% completion.
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