By Purushottam P. Khatri
Kathmandu, July 31: Nepali Army Headquarters (NAHQ) Friday said that the government must allocate more than Rs. 50 billion for next two consecutive fiscal years for timely completion of the Kathmandu/Terai-Madhes Fast Track Project (KTFT).
One of the national pride projects of the government, the KTFT has a deadline to complete by the end of fiscal year 2023/24 (2080/81 B.S).
Speaking at a press conference organised to brief about the project and annual financial status of the Nepali Army Welfare Fund and its activities at the Army Headquarters on Friday, project chief (Tech) Brigadier General Bikash Pokhrel reiterated that the project would be completed within the given timeline.
“From the next fiscal year, the project requires Rs. 50 billion for two years,” Pokhrel said, adding, “For this, we have already moved into the most crucial and awaiting part of the project from the current new fiscal year, and that is the beginning of the work on tunnels measuring 6.41 km in total.”
Two separate tunnel constructing international contractors have already been in the field and are preparing their final design and geotechnical survey and study of the tunnel, he said.
“Preparation of all these preliminary works and the concrete tunnel construction work will begin from the second week of April, 2022,” Pokhrel said.
Of the total length of the express way, the length of the road is 55.5 km, bridge 10.59 km and tunnels 6.41 km.
In the last four years after the project was handed over to the NA, the project has so far spent Rs. 25.39 billion and the total physical progress of the project is 16.21 per cent.
Like in the last two fiscal years, the project this year has received a budget of Rs. 8.96 billion from the government.
According to the endorsed detailed project report (DPR), the estimated total cost of the project is Rs. 175 billion including the VAT. The total length of the project is 72.5 km. The project includes three tunnel routes broken into two phases and four lanes inside the tunnel and 16 bridges of special nature and 71 other normal bridges.
The project is currently undertaken and managed by the NAHQ. A Cabinet meeting held on May 4, 2017 had decided to hand over the project to the NA and later on August 12, 2017, the Department of Roads formally shifted the overall management of the project to the NA.
The tunnel construction work has already been awarded to China Construction Engineering Corp Ltd for package No. 1 and Poly Changda Engineering Co. Ltd. of China for package No. 2 of the tunnel. The first

package area lies at the Mahadevtar tunnel section of Makwanpur district and the second package area lies at the Dhedre and Lendanda tunnel section of the same district.
Brigadier General Pokhrel said that currently the section that lies in Khokana of Lalitpur district is turning as major obstacles to the NA as the locals have not yet agreed on land compensation.
He said the land owners of 427 ropanis have not yet accepted their compensation from the District Administration Office as the land compensation, distribution and its evaluation responsibility falls on to the shoulder of the government but not on the army. No progress can be made in this section due to continuous protest and agitation from the locals, he said.
NA’s Welfare Fund reaches Rs. 59 billion
Meanwhile, the NA’s annual Welfare Fund reached Rs. 59.95 billion as of the end of the last fiscal year. Within the last fiscal year, the Fund was able to earn Rs. 8.25 billion (18 per ent increment) in the previous fiscal year’s Fund of Rs. 45.86 billion. With the increment of 18 per cent, the Fund’s amount reached Rs. 54.12 billion in the last fiscal year 2020/21 with additional investment of Rs. 5.83 billion in various sectors of health, education, microfinance programmes, UN peacekeeping deployment, and interests to be received by the Fund from various commercial banks.
The Fund has its deposit amount of Rs. 53.77 billion in several commercial banks, Rs. 426 million in development banks and Rs. 3.07 billion in cooperatives and finances, according to Brigadier General and chief of the Fund Sagar Bahadur K.C.