Breakthrough made in first tunnel of Fast Track

By A Staff Reporter,Kathmandu, May 18: Breakthrough has been made in a 1.43-km-long tunnel along the Kathmand-Tarai Madhes Fast Track (Expressway) Project on Friday.

According to a press note issued by the Directorate of Public Relations and Information of the Nepali Army Friday evening, the final point of one of a twin tube tunnels at Lendanda of Makwanpur district has been completed while in another tunnel, the works have reached the final stage. 

According to Brigadier General and Spokesperson for the DPR&I, Gaurav Kumar KC, of the 1.63-km-long tunnel at Dhedre 1.506 kilometres have been cleared and only 124 metres is left to dig. 

Likewise, only 1.197 kilometres of the 3.355-kilometre Mahadevtar tunnel, the longest along the Fast Track, is left to be cleared.

The 76-km Fast Track connects the capital city and Nijagadh in Madhes, southern Nepal. Once completed, the Fast Track will reduce the current travel time from the Tarai to Kathmandu by several hours. With 11-km bridges and 6 km tunnels, the project is more complex than any road construction project undertaken in Nepal before.

The government on May 4, 2017, formally handed over the project, under the Department of Roads, to the Nepali Army. The NA started building the multi-billion-rupee project in August of the same year with a four-year completion target. But the deadline was extended several times for different reasons. 

The final and last extended date for the project is 2027.

The project has been split into 13 packages. The Nepali Army is yet to award contracts for the construction of 6.5 road at the Khokana-Bungamati area in Lalitpur, Makwanpur and Nijgadh, as the land acquisition problem at the entry point (zero kilo) is yet to be resolved. 

So far, the Expressway has made an overall progress of 33.99 per cent, according to the DPR&I.