About 85% construction work of Dharahara project complete

By A Staff Reporter,Kathmandu, Apr. 18: Around 85 per cent work on the Dhahara project has been completed so far, according to the construction company. 

Ramesh Poudel, project manager of Raman Construction Company, said that beautification works around Dharahara, construction of the rooftop garden and other works around the basement are yet to be completed. 

Design of some structures has been changed, resulting in a delay in the work process, he said. 

The deadline for the construction company to hand over the project to the Department of Urban Development and Building Construction expired in June 2022. 

But the deadline has been extended to October 2023, he said. 

"The project will complete only in October this year, and we will hand it over to the Department of Urban Development and Building Construction," he said. 

Even two years after its haste inauguration by the then Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli in April 2021, the construction of Dharahara still remains incomplete.  

The contract for the reconstruction of Dharahara project was awarded at Rs. 3.48 billion. Of which Rs. 2.15 billion has already been spent.

Poudel said that his construction company had not received Rs. 100 million of Rs. 2.15 billion spent amount from the government.

Dharahara project spreads in an area of over 42 ropanis, covering gardens, a four-storey museum, colourful fountains, roof-top garden, souvenir shops and other structures. The triple basement parking will have a capacity to accommodate 400 vehicles and 700 motorcycles. 

The contractor company has yet to start works for the preservation of the remnants of the old Dharahara and Sundhara water spout.  

The original 11-storey tower built by Bhimsen Thapa, the first Prime Minister of Nepal, had collapsed in the earthquake on January 15, 1934. But after the quake, only nine-stories were built, which collapsed again in the earthquake of April 25, 2015.