Thankot-Chandragiri road upgradation: Additional Rs 60 million allocated

By Bishnu Pandeya, Kathmandu, Feb 7: The government has allocated an additional Rs 60 million budget for the construction of the Thankot-Chandragiri road. The additional budget has been allocated for upgrading the road after getting criticism that the road, named Ganeshman Singh Highway, has been dilapidated due to lack of budget.  

Pramod Khatiwada, Spokesperson of the Road Division Office, Kathmandu, Department of Roads, who oversees the road section, said that even though Rs 220 million was requested for the current fiscal year, only Rs 20 million was allocated previously. Now, the additional budget of Rs59.9 million has been allocated. 

The Thankot-Chandragiri road section has been deemed at high risk, as the Road Division Office, Kathmandu, had halted the construction saying the budget was not enough to advance the work further.  

Even though there is an agreement to lay 500 meters of blacktopped road towards the slope of Chandragiri from Thankot, it is not possible to work on other areas as the requested budget has been 10 per cent less than the demand. 

He said, “The budget demand for the road was Rs 22 billion. Previously Rs 20 million budget was allocated, now additional Rs 59.9 million has been allocated. This will be just enough to expand the road and adjust the size of the road.”

According to him, a total of Rs 79.9 million budget has been allocated for the current fiscal year for the road. The possibility of blacktopping the road seems low due to the lack of enough budget.