Kathmandu - The work on the remaining section of the Terai-Madhesh Fast Track (Fast Track) will be moved forward by putting aside the dispute over the 3.2-kilometer section of Khokana in Lalitpur. The problem of the 6.5-kilometer section had not been resolved even after eight years since the Nepal Army took over the construction management. After the Khokana dispute remained unresolved for a long time, Prime Minister Sushila Karki has directed to move forward with an alternative plan.

As per Prime Minister Karki's instructions, the DPR will now be amended to construct a toll plaza (toll collection house) at Farsidol, 3.3 kilometers from Khokana. Link roads are to be built to connect to Farsidol. A team led by Prime Minister Karki had returned from an on-site inspection of the under-construction expressway on 3 Magh. After that, it was decided to find a solution after discussing it in the presence of the ministers of the concerned ministries, the Chief of Army Staff, the secretary and the project chief. 

According to the army, the DPR prepared in 2017 mentions that the toll plaza will be located in Farsidol. 'A link road will be built to make it easier for the locals of the said area, a road is being built towards Farsidol,' said a military source. 'There have been discussions to make it possible to enter the expressway via the link road towards Lalitpur, and it has been possible to exit from there.'

  Earlier, the DPR was prepared so that vehicles could only stop from the toll plaza and come directly to Khokana. ‘First there was an expressway,’ said a military source, ‘now Chalnakhel, Dakshinkali, Bhainsepati, Kanti highways will be connected to the fast track as a link road.’ The current DPR will be amended to make it easier for the locals and will be taken to the Council of Ministers.

In a discussion held at the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers on Tuesday, Prime Minister Karki directed to move forward with an alternative plan as the local community is expressing concern that it will affect the religious-cultural heritage and faith of Khokana. He said that the concerns of the locals should be taken seriously while carrying out development work. 

‘There should be no unnecessary delay in development and construction work, if there is a dispute, it should not be stuck there indefinitely,’ Karki said, ‘We should find an alternative and move forward. Now let’s revise the Detailed Project Report (DPR). If the starting point is not Khokana, then let’s set the starting point from wherever we agree. Let’s operate the project work until it is completed.’

Prime Minister Karki had called Finance Minister Rameshwor Khanal, Law Minister Anil Kumar Sinha, Minister for Physical Infrastructure and Transport Madhav Chaulagain, Vice Chairman of the National Planning Commission Prakash Kumar Shrestha, Chief of Army Staff Ashok Raj Sigdel, along with officials related to the expressway project and secretaries of the concerned ministries for discussion. Minister for Physical Infrastructure and Transport Chaulagain said that the Prime Minister took an interest in the issue and called it for discussion as the work on the Khokana section was not progressing and there was a problem.

 ‘Vehicles will travel at high speed from Nijgadh in Bara to the toll plaza,’ he said, ‘link roads will be built to connect there.’ He also informed that work will be taken forward to improve the existing roads to connect to the toll plaza. ‘For this, the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure will include it in the budget for the coming year, some roads are also under the Ministry of Urban Development,’ Chaulagain said. 

The Council of Ministers had decided on 21 Baisakh 2074 to give the responsibility of managing the construction of the fast track to the army. Later, the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport handed over the project to the army on 27 Shrawan 2074. Accordingly, its construction is being carried out under the management of the army. Out of the total distance of 70.977 km, only 10.901 km is the tunnel route. Similarly, the distance of the bridge is only 12.885 km. Currently, 13 bridges out of 89 special nature bridges have been constructed on the fast track.

Of these, the construction of four bridges in the Khokana section has not yet begun. Foundation work is underway at 54 of the under-construction bridges. Seven tunnels are under construction. The Khokna-Dukuchhap section has been included in package number 11. Similarly, packages 8 and 9 have two parts, 8 'A' and 'B' and 9 'A' and 'B'. The deadline is until Chaitra 2083, and the physical progress is 45.16 percent.

It was said that all the work on the expressway would be completed by Mangsir 2081 when the army took over the management. After it was not completed within that time, the deadline has been extended to Chaitra 2083. The Nepali Army claims that it was not able to start work immediately after taking over the management due to the time it took for the DPR to be approved by the Council of Ministers. The work on the DPR began on 16 Asoj 2075 and was ready on 19 Magh of the same year. Then it was approved by the Council of Ministers on 1 Bhadra 2076. Packages 1 to 7 were contracted from Jestha 2078 to 10 Magh 2079. The first revision of the project's DPR was made on 30 Shrawan 2080 and the second revision was made on 25 Kartik 2081.