Tarai–Madhesh Fast-Track Highway hits 45% completion

KATHMANDU: The construction of the Tarai–Madhesh Fast-Track Highway has reached 45 percent progress. Managed by the Nepali Army, the project currently reports an overall physical progress of 45.16 percent and financial progress of 45.33 percent.

Of the seven tunnels planned at Mahadev Danda, Dhedre, Len Danda, Chandrabhir, Devichaur, Sisautar, and Mauribhir, five are currently under construction. The Nepali Army’s Road Construction Project team confirmed that four tunnels in Dhedre and Len Danda of Makwanpur have already achieved breakthrough.

According to Army technical chief Senani Milan Karki, two more sets of tunnels are expected to achieve breakthrough by the end of the current fiscal year. The total length of all tunnels under the project is 10.979 kilometers.

The 70.977-kilometer highway, starting from Khokana in Lalitpur and connecting Kathmandu, Makwanpur, and the East-West Highway in Nijgadh, Bara, will have a width of 25 meters in hilly areas and 27 meters in the Tarai. The project includes 9 kilometers of road in Lalitpur, 4.6 kilometers in Kathmandu, 49.7 kilometers in Makwanpur, and 7.6 kilometers in Bara.

Army spokesperson Rajaram Basnet stated that 89 small and large bridges are planned along the fast-track. So far, 13 bridges at 13 locations, some up to 82 meters high with special designs, have been completed. Contracts for 85 bridges are under implementation, while land acquisition issues remain for four locations. By the end of the current fiscal year, 15 bridges are expected to be completed. Additionally, 5 kilometers of the 11-kilometer road’s sub-base and service lanes have been asphalted.

This highway, which will connect the federal capital to the Tarai in a short time, is the country’s first fast-track built to “Asian Highway Standard” and holds strategic importance. The initial estimated cost of construction was Rs 213 billion. The Army has stated that the project aims to be completed by the end of Chaitra 2083.

Once completed, travel from Kathmandu to the central Tarai will take approximately one hour.