The director of the Nagdhunga Tunnel Construction Project, Saujanya Nepal, said that an agreement was signed on Wednesday with the USIN-ART JV to operate the tunnel. USIN is a Chinese company and ART is a Nepali company.
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An agreement has been signed with the service provider for the operation of the Nagdhunga-Sisnekhola tunnel.
The Nagdhunga Tunnel Construction Project Director Saujanya Nepal said that an agreement was reached with the USIN-ART JV to operate the tunnel on Wednesday. USIN is a Chinese company and ART is a Nepalese company.
The fee for vehicles using the tunnel has also been fixed. Project Director Nepal said that there will be no problem in operating the tunnel once the service provider company provides training and prepares the manpower. The responsibility of preparing the manpower lies with the selected service provider company.
'A provision has been made that the company that has been given the responsibility of operating the tunnel must operate the tunnel within three months from the date of the agreement,' said Director Nepal. 'The contracted company will only be operational in the field after some internal preparation, until then we will provide the site.'
With the agreement, 150 employees working on the tunnel will now be given training on operation. 'Since the tunnel will be operated 24 hours a day, the employees will be put to work only after being properly trained, so it will take some time,' he said.
The training will involve employees of the Road Department, project employees, expert groups from consulting companies, and technical teams from construction companies. The employees will be trained on operations from the flyover at KCPD in Kathmandu to the tunnel leading to Dhading.
The service provider company will have to complete the manpower training within three months of the date of the agreement. However, he said that the tunnel test can be conducted in the meantime. 'We are preparing accordingly to see if the tunnel can be operated during the rainy season,' he said. The project has stated that the landslide management and toll plaza (toll collection center) construction on the Dhading side have reached the final stage.
The currently selected service provider will manage and operate the tunnel for five years. During this period, the tunnel will have to be repaired, traffic management, emergency rescue, toll collection, and the 2.8-kilometer access road connecting Kathmandu and Dhading will have to be maintained.
The service provider will have to operate the tunnel 24 hours a day and the collected toll amount will have to be deposited in the Road Board Nepal account every day. The project has stated that 98 percent of the tunnel construction work has been completed so far.
