Upgradation of Butwal-Narayanghat road takes pace, 72% complete

By Our Correspondent, Kawasoti, Oct 13: The expansion and upgradation of Butwal-Narayanghat road along the East-West Highway has accelerated and completion percentage has reached 72 per cent of works.

Supposed to have been completed almost four years ago, the deadline for the road construction was extended for the fourth and last time this year, setting last deadline to complete work till 24 July 2026.

The project was much criticized for the slow pace of work.

Shiva Khanal, information officer and engineer of Butwal road division office, said that the construction of the road will be complete within the given deadline if present pace is maintained. The road is being built by the China Construction Pvt. limited, dividing the road into two sections.

Although the contractor side wanted an extension of 18 months for the construction, the government allowed only a yearlong one.

Khanal said that adequate workers were deployed for construction and that the work was being carried out even at night.

So far, 80 km road has been blacktopped two-way while 94 km has been blacktopped one way, out of a total of 113 km to be expanded, from two lane to four lane one in forest area while from two lane to six lane in settlement area and thus upgrade the road to Asian standard one.

If the contractor fails to complete the construction within the set deadline, it will face action along with fines. The contractor is willing to complete work within the extended deadline of 330 days.

The contractor side has attributed the accelerated pace of work to settlement of problems such as tree felling, relocating electricity poles and drinking water pipes. Some 49,830 trees have been cut down to clear the area for road construction and that the construction was delayed to delay in site clearance.