Three bypasses have been completed, with only 3.5 meters of main tunnel work remaining
Audhi is happy to know that Lakshman Prasad Shrestha of Tinau rural municipality-3 Dobhan, who was injured in a landslide while going home from Siddhababa temple in 2078, is preparing to break through Siddhababa tunnel. At that time, he was treated at the B&B Hospital in Lalitpur for a month, and the risk and fear of the landslide in the Siddhababa area is fresh.
'He who has suffered, he will suffer,' he said, who was shopping in the Siddhababa temple premises, 'I would have forgotten the suffering if I could walk through the tunnel.' Somprasad Pandey, who became a member, is also very happy with the news that the Siddhababa tunnel is about to 'break through'. After the election of 2074, he not only took initiatives to make this area safe, he also announced from the parliament that he would go on a hunger strike if the roads in this area were not improved. "Now I am very happy, looking at the situation 7 years ago and now, I think it would have worked," he said.
Only 3.5 meters of the main tunnel of the Siddhababa Surungmarg at Dobhan, Tinau Rural Municipality-3 of Palpa, is yet to be dug. According to the project, Siddhababa Tunnel Project Office said that the remaining work is planned to be completed only one day before the 'break through ceremony' will be held in the area of tunnel construction.
In the presence of Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, 'break through' is going to be done. Project head Krishnaraj Adhikari said, "Initially, it was planned to do the 'break through' on January 2, but because the Prime Minister's time could not be managed, it was planned to do it on January 8.
The distance of the main tunnel of Siddhababa tunnel is 1 thousand 126 meters. It is mined from both sides. According to the project, the work was done quickly because it was excavated from the north and south. Apart from this, there are three 'cross passages' i.e. bypasses as emergency doors. All these three have already 'break through'.
The distance of all the three cross passages is 441 meters. The first is 151 meters, the second is 161 meters and the third is 130 meters long. Now there is a maximum of 3.5 meters to be dug and one and a half meters left to be dug and the stone soil that came out by blasting in between will be cleaned.
The chief officer of the project said that the project office and the construction company are now preparing for 'break through'. It has been constructed in such a way that a tunnel can be dug from near the Siddhababa temple on the side of Palpa and exit to the Tinau hydropower dam side on the side of Palpa.
Now the physical progress of Siddhababa tunnel is 33.59 percent and the financial progress is 32.2 percent. China State Construction Engineering Corporation has taken the contract for 7 billion 34 million 21 million. The construction of a tunnel was started as an alternative after frequent landslides and accidents started to increase in the road section of this area.
The four km stretch from Dobhan to Chidiyakhola falls within the high landslide zone. After introducing this section as 'Death Road', the government had studied the tunnel and ensured the budget. The contract for the tunnel was signed in February 2078 so that it can be built within five years.
Although the government gave approval to the road department to award a multi-year contract for the construction of the Siddhababa tunnel in the first week of November 2076, the awarding of the contract was delayed. The government was confused to approve the tender document (bid document) for the tunnel. Siddhababa Tunnel is being constructed on Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) model.
The work of rock seed, rock fall barrier, slope protection will be done on the outer side of Siddhababa tunnel. Apart from that, a 900 meter long rock shelter (rock shed) will also have to be built on the road. Apart from that, nets will also be tied to prevent stones from falling in an area of about one kilometer. According to the project, the road will be made into two lanes in this section.
