East-West Highway upgrading work moving at snail’s pace in Sarlahi

BY JANARJAN KHATRI

Sarlahi, Mar. 13: The work to upgrade the East-West Highway in Sarlahi is progressing at a snail’s pace. 

The Kamala-Dhalkebar-Pathaliya Road project, under the eastern section in Sarlahi, has made very little progress in the past two months. The upgrading work on  the 74.75-kilometre eastern section of the road, which stretches from the Kamala River in eastern Siraha to Bagmati in western Sarlahi, began on January 1.

In Sarlahi, work is underway to replace culverts by dismantling the damaged ones in Nawalpur and Sasapur and the expansion of the Chapini Khola Bridge is also progressing. However, other work, such as clearing the areas along the road using excavators, is moving at a very slow pace, informed construction contractors.

The road improvement project in the eastern section is being funded by Rs. 18.6 billion loan from the World Bank. The construction is expected to be completed by 2027.

As per the Kamala-Dhalkebar-Pathalaiya Road Project, trees and utility poles located in Gauridanda of Mahottari need to be removed from both sides of the road, as they are causing delays in construction work. The project’s chief and senior divisional engineer, Chhabilal Paudel, said that delays in cutting trees and relocating electricity poles are causing issues with the road expansion.

Though tree marking has begun in the areas within the road’s jurisdiction, the decision for cutting trees must be made by the Provincial Forest Ministry, the federal forest ministry and the Cabinet. It is understood that the Nepal Electricity Authority is handling the relocation of electricity poles through a contracted service.

Project Chief Paudel stated that the presence of remaining trees and electricity poles is preventing contractors from moving forward with the work.

The road project office issued a notice a week ago, requesting that 25 metres of space be cleared on both sides of the current road. 

The current two-lane East-West Highway needs to be expanded to 31 metres wide in urban and market areas, according to Asian standards, with six lanes, while other areas will be upgraded to four lanes, 18 metres wide, including a median strip. Various obstacles have arisen in the road’s jurisdiction due to this expansion.

Paudel informed that for the road upgrading work, 8,452 trees of different species along the road from the Kamala Bridge to the Bagmati Bridge need to be removed. Additionally, 222 electricity poles need to be relocated.

Besides this, there are 35 temples, 55 banyan tree platforms, 17 locations with the Nepali Army, two police check-posts, four police outposts, eight wells, 69 waiting shelters and three public toilets. Furthermore, the consultant’s report indicates that 33,160 metres of drinking water pipes may be obstructed during the construction.