While work is being done on the Ambukhaireni-Pokhara section, there is still no chance of awarding the contract for the Muglin-Abukhaireni road upgrade. The construction of Ambukhaireni-Jamune section has been completed 75 percent. The work of Jamune-Pokhara section is also 40 percent complete. Only the Muglin-Abunkhaireni section could not be signed. If the contract is awarded, it will take two and a half years to build.

Chudaraj Dhakal, project director of the Directorate of Projects (ADB), said that before the work of Ambukhaireni-Pokhara section is completed, contract management work is being done in this section. The road from Muglin to Ambukhareni is narrow. But the traffic is high. The power house of the Marsyangdi hydropower project is located in the section where there is a lot of traffic. Again, director Dhakal said that this is difficult and complicated section.

Where the risk of accidents is also high due to the narrow road, the contract has not been managed on the 8 and a half km road of that section. The Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) has been completed and sent to the Ministry of Forests and Environment in order to proceed with the contract process for road construction across Muglin. But Dhakal says that EIA has not been approved even after a month.

'After preparing the first EIA report, the relevant bodies related to the forest and the project met and discussed it, it has been a month since we added some things from the discussion,' he said, 'it has not been approved, there is no problem in proceeding with the contract process after the EIA is approved&nbsp Dhakal said that the design work for the construction has been completed.

"Now, two-lane roads are being built across and across," said Dhakal, "Muglin Baja Muni Trishuli and the power house of Marsyangdi hydropower project have been designed to build one concrete bridge each. We will build a bridge about 400 meters from Marsyangdi Power House. After that, a 4-lane road will be constructed. It is estimated that the construction of Muglin-Ambukhaireni section will cost 4 billion rupees.

'There was no problem in getting the EIA approved in January, we are also asking the Ministry of Forests for that,' Dhakal said, 'Narayangadh-Muglin road has been completed, the road from Muglin to Kathmandu is being upgraded, the road from Pokhara to Ambukhareni is also being built. He said that there is a problem with not being able to get the contract for this initial road is . ADB's concessional loans have been upgraded.

'Ambukhaireni-Pokhara road will be done from the savings of the agreed loan,' Dhakal said, 'so ADB is waiting for the EIA report to be approved by Forest.' Deepak Kumar Kharal, secretary of the Ministry of Forests and Environment, said yes.

75 percent of construction work on Ambukhaireni-Jamune section and 40 percent of Jamune-Pokhara section has been completed . The initial deadline for the Ambukhaireni-Jamune section was 2081 Baisakh. Now the deadline has been extended till February 1, 2081. If the work cannot be completed within that time, there are plans to extend the deadline by four months . "The work can be completed within the extended time," Kharal said, "The deadline for the Jamune-Pokhara section was up to August 12, 2081, but after the completion of the work, the time has been extended until December 16, 2082." Dhakal claims that the progress of work on both sections is good.

The contract for the first section (Abunkhaireni-Jamune) was taken by China Construction Company Corporation. Its distance is 41.45 km. The contract from Jamune to Seti Bridge was taken by Yan Hui Construction. Its distance is 38.88 km. The contract for the first phase is Rs 6.21 crore 31 lakh and the second phase is Rs 7.40 crore 46 lakh. Dhakal says that 37 km of new tarred road has been built in Ambukhaireni-Jamune section.