MUSTANG, Aug. 15: More than Rs 8.96 billion in public funds has been spent on the construction of the Beni-Jomsom-Korala highway project, a transnational road connecting Nepal with China and India.
The Kaligandaki Corridor Korala Road Project said the amount was spent from fiscal year (FY) 2073/74 BS to 2082/83 BS.
According to Tejashwi Sharma, chief of the Korala Road Project, the project's initial cost estimate was Rs 10.56 billion, but Rs 8.96 billion had been spent by the end of the last FY.
The project's latest revised cost estimate has reached Rs 15 billion. Under the revised estimate, the overall physical progress of the Beni-Jomsom-Korala road project has reached 65 percent, while financial progress stands at 60 percent.
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The construction period for the Korala Road, a national pride project connecting the country's north and south, has been extended to FY 2088/89 BS.
Initially, the project involved constructing a 74-km four-lane asphalt road from Beni to Jomsom and a 119-km seven-segment gravel road from Jomsom to Korala. Since then, dozens of additional components, including roads and bridges, have been incorporated into the project.
There is now a plan to blacktop and upgrade 202 km of road from Maldhunga in Parbat to the Nepal-China border at Korala. Of the targeted 202 km stretch from Maldhunga to Korala, 90 km had been blacktopped by mid-July 2026.
Sharma said an additional contract worth Rs 2 billion has been invited to upgrade and blacktop the 50-km section from Chhusang to Ghami in Mustang under the Kaligandaki Corridor.
In the current FY, a contract will be invited to blacktop a 500-meter section of the Beni-Jomsom road in Sirobari, Myagdi, which is prone to landslides.
Similarly, the Korala Road Project has set a target of constructing 26 motorable bridges from Maldhunga in Parbat to the Korala checkpoint. By the end of FY 2082/83, 18 bridges had already been completed, the project chief said.
Four permanent bridges are currently under construction along the Korala Road, while budget allocation for the remaining four required bridges is yet to be made, she said.
Under the national pride Korala Road project, landslide prevention works are also ongoing at three locations along the Myagdi section of the Beni-Jomsom road. Landslide prevention works have been carried out at Guithbheer, Khambhitta and Baisari in Myagdi, project chief Sharma said.
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