At a cost of 35 billion, 69 km road will be expanded to 4 lanes, 7 thousand trees will be cut
7 thousand 175 trees will be cut during the four-lane expansion of Butwal-Gorusinge road. In coordination with the Ministry of Forestry, the construction company got permission to cut trees. Now the marking of the trees in the road area has been completed. According to the project, road construction will proceed after tree felling.
The road section of the east-west highway from Butwal to Chandrauta, which was built in 2019, is about to be expanded. The road, which was initially constructed as a single lane, was expanded to two lanes in the year 2035/36.
The 69 km road from Butwal to Chandrauta will now be expanded to 4 lanes at a cost of 275 million US dollars (about 35 billion) with the loan support of the Asian Development Bank.
In the first phase, the construction of about 50 kilometers of road from Butwal to Gorusinge has started. The second phase will be constructed in Gorusinge Chandrauta section of 19 km distance. An agreement has also been reached with the World Bank for the second phase of the contract and the signature bridge at Tinau in Butwal.
Currently, marking of trees, management of electric poles, construction of labs for soil, stone, gravel and sand testing, management of large machines and materials and road measurement are being done in Butwal to Gorusinge section.
In the first phase, 30 bridges will be constructed along with road expansion. 149 culverts and 6 under/over passes will be constructed. This road will be 50 meters wide in urban areas, 37 meters wide in suburban areas and 24 meters wide in forest areas. Butwal Gorusinge Road Project Chief Engineer Kushalta Neupane said that after the numbering of the trees in the road area has been completed, the marking work is being done with the permission of the Ministry of Forestry.
'The work has progressed with an agreement with the construction company for 13 billion 55 crore 95 lakh 96 thousand rupees for the construction of the road,' Neupane said. '
Chinese construction company Shanxi Construction Engineering Group Corporation and Chitwan's Ashish Nirman Seva JV have signed an agreement for road construction. The work will be done by Ashish Construction Services. Construction businessman Vijay Gowli claimed that work can be done within three years of the agreement.
The project has been designed in such a way that the construction will start from one side of the road side after tree cutting and electric pole relocation. "First, work will be done only on one side of the road," she said.
As thousands of vehicles pass through the east-west highway every day, she said that construction work will be done so that vehicles and passengers will not suffer. According to the
project office, during the road expansion, 2,613 trees will be cut in the Butwal sub-metropolitan and Sainamaina municipal areas of Rupandehi, and 1,326 trees will be cut in the Kanchan rural municipality area. Similarly, according to engineer Neupane, 3,236 trees will be cut in Kapilvastu's four and Gorusinge areas.
Many places in the Butwal-Chandrauta section are forested. The northern region of Tinau Pulpari in Rupandehi, Saljhandi to Gorusinge region has dense forests both north and south. The area is home to many wild animals due to its large forests. During the expansion of the road, according to the Wildlife Protection Act, a road construction plan has been made for easy movement for them as well. Accordingly, the project said that 149 culverts will be constructed in the area from Saljhandi to Pipra and from Bangai to Gorusinge, which has many forest areas. Among them, three underpasses for the movement of wild animals and others will be built to allow water to flow.
According to the project, four culverts with under/overpass will be constructed in Saljhandi-Pipra section and 6 in Koili-Gheruwa-Bangai-Gorusinge area. Hari Prasad Aryal, President of Butwal Industry and Commerce Association, says that the government has put forward the concept of road expansion and construction of major roads with the aim of increasing road safety and reducing travel time by 30 percent after highway upgrading.
'Butwal-Narayangadh road and Butwal-Chandrauta road which are currently under construction are the roads that will help in the development of infrastructure under the same objective,' Aryal said, 'The roads under construction will help to open the doors of business partnership and transport connectivity and economic potential with Nepal's provinces and neighboring countries. . But the delay during the construction has increased the disgust towards the project itself.'
Butwal-Chandrauta road should be constructed on time, Aryal said that work should be started with sensitivity to the issue of not causing inconvenience to vehicles and passengers. He said that the infrastructure development structure including necessary internet and business information facilities will also be added to the highway by the big projects, and the doors of more economic possibilities will also be opened.
