Minister Dahal monitors under-construction Muglin-Pokhara road project

Damauli, Aug 31: Minister for Physical Infrastructures and Transportation Devendra Dahal has carried out an onsite inspection of the under-construction Mugling-Pokhara road project on Friday evening. 

The inspection covered the areas stretching from Aanbookhaireni of Tanahu district in the east section of the road to Jamune of Pokhara in the west section. Expressing concerns over the progress of the project, Minister Dahal instructed to expedite the remaining works.

The undertaking is being enforced with the concessional loan assistance of the Asian Development Bank under which the two-lane road from Pokhara to Muglin would be expanded into four-lane in the wake of increasing traffic on this road. 

Contract for the eastern section was awarded to the China Communications Construction company at over Rs 6.21 billion while western section's contract was signed with Anhui Kaiyun Highway and Bridge Constructions at over Rs 1.4 billion. 

Reviewing the progress, Minister Dahal assured that the government was committed to addressing the issues surfaced during the implementation of the project.

Engineer at Muglin-Pokhara Road Project (Eastern Section) engineer Bishnu Prasad Pandey shared that this section had witnessed 65 per cent physical progress. 

Additionally, 55 km of two-lane road in this section was blacktopped over 63 km of one-way road. He further informed that the 30 per cent progress was made in the under-construction bridge over the Madi River at Damauli. 

Delays derailed the blacktopping on some parts of the eastern section. Issues as removal of some huts alongside the road at Dumre and Damauli Bazar were however addressed, he mentioned. 

Furthermore, 14 small bridges, two big bridges and 103 culverts were constructed till now in this section.

Meanwhile, 20 km of the two-lane road from Jamune to Pokhara has been blacktopped in the western side of the project which saw little progress in the past, according to Narayan Paudel, engineer of the western section of the project.

Paudel reported that of total 11 bridges planned in this section, five were completed. He informed the visiting Minister that super structures of 8 bridges of the proposed 13 bridges were over. 

So far, the achievement in road upgrading in the western section is 28 percent, according to him. (RSS)