Completion of Dharahara project to take at least four months

By A Staff Reporter,Kathmandu, July 4: It has been over 26 months since the then Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli inaugurated the new Dharahara by organising an extravagant programme amid the growing fear of COVID-19 in Kathmandu. However, the construction work on the Dharahara has not been completed yet.

Former PM Oli inaugurated it on April 24, 2021, when the fate of the government led by him became uncertain. According to the construction company, it will take at least four more months to complete the Dharahara. This is a typical case of inaugurating a project ignoring its construction status. 

Only in recent months, has the construction of the new Dharahara Tower project gained the desired speed, and the construction company has been hopeful to complete it latest by the extended deadline of October 2023. 

Ramesh Poudel, project manager of Raman Construction Company, said, “We are moving ahead with the reconstruction work to complete the project within four months. The project will complete by the deadline of October 12, 2023.” 

The main construction work of the project is likely to complete around five years after the construction work began. Construction of the project had begun in November, 2018. Over the years, the project deadline was extended five times. 

Approximately 88 per cent physical and 78 per cent financial progress has been achieved, according to the construction company.

Project manager Poudel said that the beautification around Dharahara, rooftop garden of triple basement parking, the works of souvenir shops of the double basement of new Dharahara tower, and works of a four-storied museum are left.  

Total 98 per cent work of new Dharahara tower has been completed but the works of underground souvenir shops are left, he said. Two elevators have been installed in the tower. 

"If the project competes within October with the external beauty, we will hand it over to the Department of Urban Development and Building Construction," he said. 

The contract for the reconstruction of Dharahara project was awarded at Rs. 3.48 million. 

The Dharahara project spans in over an area of 42 ropanis of land. There will be a garden around the Dharahara with rest space. 

The complex will have a four-storey museum, colourful fountains, rooftop garden, souvenir shops and other structures. The triple basement parking will have the capacity to accommodate 400 vehicles and 700 motorcycles. 

A triple basement underground parking has been built at the General Post Office section. The top part of the third floor of the underground parking will be developed as a park having greenery with various facilities like water fountain and stone tap.  

The four-storied museum was built at the Department of Minting of Nepal Rastriya Bank. After completing the project works, a printing machine of Mint office will be kept for the visitors to observe, he added. 

Around 175 Nepalese and Indian workers have been working on the project. Manager Poudel said that the preservation task of the remains of old Dharahara and Sundhara have not moved yet.  

"We are not working in such section because the Central Level Project Implementation Unit (ULPIU), Department of Urban Development and Building Construction have not provided any instruction and have not signed any agreement to work on them," he said.    

The preservation of the remains of old Dharahara will start after Department of Archaeology approves the design works to preserve the remains of Dharahara, said Kosh Nath Adhikari, project director of CLPIU. 

In the case of Sundhara, the conservation works will start after the locals find out the source of the water of Sundhara. "Locals have demanded that water be supplied to the Sundhara from original source so we have handed over the responsibility of source tracing to the locals," he said.