CDO inspects Daunne road to ease seven years of commuter suffering

By Purushottam Subedi, Paschim Nawalparasi, April 1: Chief District Officer (CDO) of West Nawalparasi, Deepak Raj Nepal, has stepped up efforts to end long-standing obstructions and delays in the under-construction Butwal-Narayangadh road section along the East–West Highway.

To ease the hardships faced by travelers for the past seven years and accelerate the construction work, the CDO conducted an on-site inspection and directed the concerned authorities to take immediate action.

The approximately 7-kilometre stretch around Daunne Bazaar, Ghyukhola, and Bishwakarma Temple has been identified as highly sensitive.

 With the onset of the monsoon season, the road frequently turns muddy and slippery, causing vehicles to stall on uphill sections, leading to repeated traffic disruptions and road blockages.

During the inspection, attended by the project chief of the Narayangadh-Butwal Road Project (western section), representatives of the construction company, and security officials, CDO Nepal instructed authorities to begin immediate measures to resolve the problems.

He directed the project and construction company to lay gravel immediately on highly slippery sections to facilitate smoother movement and to deploy additional manpower to speed up construction work.

In addition, traffic police have been instructed to control disorderly overtaking and lack of lane discipline, which have been identified as major causes of traffic congestion in the area.

Inspecting the weighbridge at Tilakpur, the CDO also expressed concern that overloaded cargo vehicles were further damaging the road and instructed authorities to strictly control such vehicles through fines and tougher enforcement.

Although the target is to complete construction on the Daunne section within two months, the slow pace of work and shortage of manpower continue to pose significant challenges.

However, Pashupati Gyawali, chief of the Daunne western project, claimed that one-way construction work on the Daunne section would be completed by the Nepali month of Baisakh.

The Butwal-Narayangadh road expansion project was contracted on February 9, 2019. With an initial deadline of three and a half years in August 2022, it has been repeatedly delayed through multiple deadline extensions.

After failing to complete the work even within the third extended deadline, the project deadline has now been extended for the fourth time until the first week of August, 2026.

The recent proactive involvement of the CDO has raised hopes that construction work will gain momentum and that the suffering endured by travelers may be reduced to some extent.