Although work is ongoing in Daunne and some other sections, road improvements have been made in most areas, significantly reducing the time it takes for travelers to reach their destinations and vehicle maintenance costs.
What you should know
The Narayanghat-Butwal road section of the East-West Highway, which is under expansion, is becoming easier to travel on.
The Narayanghat-Butwal Road Project has stated that the highway has become accessible in places other than Daunne out of the 113-kilometer section of the road. According to Engineer Shiva Khanal, Information Officer of the eastern section of the project, road expansion work is currently underway at 11 different places on the road. He said that traffic has become accessible in all areas except for about two kilometers in the eastern section of Daunne and about five kilometers in the western section. Stating that the highway has also been made accessible by removing dust in the Daunne section, he said that work is currently underway to prepare for the operation of various bridges, blacktop the service lanes, and blacktop the highway.
'Work is progressing rapidly to make the Daunne section accessible,' he said, 'The highway will be completely accessible by this winter, after which we will focus on other work on the highway expansion.' Khanal said that out of the 22 small and 12 large bridges to be built in this section, all bridges except the two large bridges at Arun Khola and Chormara have been completed.
Work is underway to build a service lane where one side of the road is blacktopped, and to build a divider in the middle of the road, and to make the road easier in damaged areas.
Engineer Rakesh Jha, the contract manager of China State Engineering Corporation Limited, which has been awarded the contract for the road expansion, said that it is now possible to reach Butwal from Narayanghat in two and a half hours. 'The road has become much easier compared to the past, we can reach Butwal from Narayanghat in two and a half hours by public bus,' he said, 'We are working in the field with preparations to complete the road construction within the extended deadline.' He said that although the work has progressed at a slow pace during Tihar, the work of expanding the road will accelerate after Chhath.
He said that work is currently underway in places such as Gaindakot, Devchuli, Chormara, Daunne. Stating that the work of blacktopping the road on both sides is underway in the Gaindakot area, Jha informed that work is being done to build a divider in the middle of the road in places where the road has already been blacktopped on both sides.
'The work of building the railings of the bridge has progressed in some places, and the work of finishing the road and building service lanes has also begun in some places,' he said, 'In the Daunne hills, slope work and dust removal work are being done to make the road easier, and the work of building walls on the roadside is being done.'
Last year, at this time, it took up to seven hours to cross this road, but now the traffic is much easier, said the driver. Sangam Lamsal of Gaindakot, who was driving on the Narayanghat-Butwal road, said that the road was easy and that passengers could reach their destinations on time.
'It used to take more than seven hours to cross this road during the monsoon season, and the vehicle would have to be serviced while traveling one-way,' he said, 'Now that problem has been eliminated, and the road has become easier, and the cost of vehicle maintenance has also decreased.'
It is said that after this road expansion, which is being expanded to the standards of Asian Highways, the distance from Narayanghat to Butwal will be reduced to 90 minutes.
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has provided 85 percent of the budget of Rs 17 billion for the road being expanded to four lanes at a loan of 1.5 percent interest. The road expansion work began in Magh 2075 BS with the aim of completing the construction in Shrawan 2079 BS, and the deadline has been extended for the fourth time and is ending on Shrawan 8.
