Expansion work is underway at about half a dozen locations on various highways, with various packages being prepared, with some sections already completed and others at a slower pace.
What you should know
Work is underway to expand a major highway in Nepal with the support of a concessional loan from the Asian Development Bank (ADB).
Some sections of the highway are nearing completion, while others have yet to gain momentum. The ADB Project Directorate has been urging construction contractors to complete the work quickly, but progress has not been as expected.
Progress has been made on the Jamune-Pokhara section of the Muglin-Pokhara road, where final preparations are being made to break the contract. With the ADB loan, expansion work is currently being carried out in about half a dozen places on various highways under various packages, where work on some sections has been completed and construction is slow in some sections.
The distance of the Aanbukhaireni-Pokhara road section is 80.33 kilometers. The road has been expanded by dividing it into two sections, and the work on the Aanbukhaireni-Jamune section has been completed. Out of the total distance of 41.45 km, 40.521 km of the road has been blacktopped.
1.34 service lanes have been constructed on it. 17 bridges and 168 culverts have been completed. The contract for this has been awarded to China Communications Construction Company. The construction completion certificate has been issued and the company that has been awarded the contract will be responsible for the maintenance of the section for five years.
The contract agreement for the second Jamune-Pokhara section was signed on 3 Jestha 2078. The work began on 13 Bhadra 2078. As per the initial agreement, the work on this section should have been completed by 12 Bhadra 2081. So far, the construction progress is 65.59 percent. In addition to the bridge, in this section, which is 38.71 km long, a four-lane road has been blacktopped on both sides in the 31.3 km section. The project has stated that a two-lane road has been blacktopped on both sides in the 6.2 km section. The construction of 11 bridges has been completed. The construction of 105 culverts has also been completed.
The contract was taken by Yanhui Kaiyuan Highway and Bridge Construction, and the expansion of both sections has been carried out with a concessional loan from the Asian Development Bank (ADB). Its deadline was until Mangsir 2082. After the work was not completed, the deadline has been extended until Asad 16, 2083. The contract amount for this section is 7.4 billion 46 million rupees. The contracts for the Seti and Madi bridges on this road section have been awarded separately. The contract for the Seti bridge has been taken by Rasuwa Construction and the contract amount is 1.7 billion 24 million rupees. The construction progress is 54 percent.
The contract for the Madi bridge has been taken by Anak-JETIEC JV. Its construction progress is 73.67 percent. The contract for both bridges was signed on 26th Shrawan 2079. The contract for Madi Bridge has been extended to 19th Ashar 2083 and for Seti Bridge to 21st Baisakh 2083. The project has stated that the problem is due to the slow pace of work on transferring 127 electricity poles and drinking water in this section. Although the trees have been cut down, the auction has not yet been held.
Meanwhile, the contract for the Muglin-Ambukhaireni road upgrade will be called within the second week of Falgun. The road leading from Muglin to Ambukhaireni is narrow, so the upgrade work has started in the first lot. Since the powerhouse of the Marsyangdi Hydropower Project is located in that section and there is a risk of cutting more hills to work, a 2-lane road is being constructed on that section.
Two large concrete bridges will be constructed under Muglin Bazaar and along the powerhouse of the Marsyangdi Hydropower Project. Four additional small bridges will be constructed in this section. The construction progress in the Kamala-Kanchanpur section, which has been facing the most problems, is also not as expected. So far, the overall physical progress in this section is 66.725 percent.
The contract for the road expansion was signed on 13 Kartik 2077. According to the agreement, the construction work was to be completed by 11 Kartik 2080, but after it was not completed by that time, the deadline was extended to Magh 2081, but the work was not completed. Again, although the deadline was until 16 Pus 2082, preparations are underway to extend the time for the third time after the work was not completed. It has been divided into two sections and has been entrusted with the construction, the total distance of which is 86.82 km. The contract amount for both sections is 15.66 billion rupees. The construction has been taken over by China Railway No. 2 Engineering Company.
The construction of 43 bridges in this section has been completed and vehicles have been put into operation. Preparations are underway to complete the construction of 11 more bridges and bring vehicles into operation. The eastern section of the Kamala-Kanchanpur road is 39.42 km and the western section is 36.99 km. Accordingly, so far, the construction progress is 66.64 percent in the eastern section and 66.81 percent in the western section.
Road expansion and upgrading work is underway from Kakadbhitta to Laukahi section of Sunsari in the East-West Highway under the Asian Highway. The highway section will have four lanes and the urban area will have six lanes including service lanes. The work has been divided into three sections and the work has been taken forward. The construction period of all three sections, including the bridges, is only three years. The contract for all sections has been signed with the loan assistance of ADB. The 45-km section from Kakadbhitta to Sitapuri in Jhapa is being worked on under a contract worth Rs 10.694 billion.
The contract for all sections, including roads and bridges, was signed in Asoj 2080. But the construction order was given on 19 Magh 2080 (2 February 2024). The contract for this section has been taken by Ivrascon-Kalika JV. The contract for the extension from Sitapuri to Gothgaun in Morang has been jointly taken by CRFG-Tundi Company. The distance of this section is 40 km. The contract amount for this section is 9 billion 138.2 million rupees. As a third package, the distance from Gothgaun to Labipur in Sunsari is 10.76 km.
The contract for this section has been taken jointly by three companies, Kovech-CREGC-Tundi Company, for 4 billion 73.5 million rupees. Overall, the total distance of the Kakadbhitta-Labipur section is 95.76 km. The overall progress of this section is only 28 percent . Six large and long concrete bridges are being constructed on this road. Three bridges each have been constructed in packages four and five. Ninda, Biring and Kankai bridges fall under package four. The contract for this has been jointly awarded by the Kovech-CREGC-Tundi company. The contract amount for these bridges is Rs 5.97 billion. Ratuwa, Bakraha and Lohendra bridges fall under package five. The contract for the construction of these bridges has been jointly awarded by the Kovech-CREGC-Tundi JV at a cost of Rs 5.65 billion. The construction of all roads and bridges should be completed by 19 Magh 2083 (2027 February 2). The construction of the bridge under package four falls within the Kakadbhitta-Sitapuri road section. The construction of the bridge under package five falls within the Sitapuri-Gothgaun road section.
This road is currently two-lane. Six-lane roads and sidewalks will be built in Damak, Urlabari, Itahari markets along with service lanes. The main highway will be four-lane. The Narayangadh-Butwal road section, which has been expanded, is still difficult to travel on. On Tuesday alone, there was a problem with vehicles skidding in the Daunne section due to the cold wave.
There have been problems with vehicle operation on 14 km of the Daunne section. The project has blacktopped 82.466 km of the total distance of 113 km, 4 lanes and 2 lanes, 19.34 km. Out of 64 bridges on the road section, 58 and 468 culverts have been constructed. So far, the overall construction progress is 73.602 percent.
Although work is done late at night in Daunne, Pashupati Gyawali, Chief of the Narayangadh-Butwal Road Project, West Section, said that the work has been affected due to the cold wave. "There has been a problem due to the cold wave for the past three days. We have asked large and medium vehicles to use alternative routes," he said. "We are now sending the stopped vehicles to their destinations and asking large freight vehicles to use alternative routes." He said that the dense fog has been making driving difficult for a few days and the risk of accidents has increased.
Except for a few road sections, overall progress is being made in the ongoing projects under the ADB's concessional loan, says Chudaraj Dhakal, Project Director of the Project Directorate (ADB). ‘Out of the overall work being done, the pace of work is slow in the Kakadbhitta-Laukahi West section, and there is no progress as expected in Kamala-Kanchanpur,’ he said. ‘We were about to break the Jamune-Pokhara section, but there is good progress there now.’
Dhakal said that there is currently a problem in the Daunne section of Narayangadh-Butwal and that there is no option but to force freight vehicles to use alternative routes. ‘Compared to the annual target, 100 percent of the ADB’s concessional loan has been utilized,’ he said. ‘In 2025, capital expenditure has been up to 112 percent compared to the target, which also means an increase in the pace of construction.’ He said that the projects are currently facing problems due to electricity poles and drinking water.’
