Earlier, the government had appointed Mishri Lal Shah, chief of Division Road Office, Janakpur, in the post. But Shah had also refused to assume the responsibility. He died a few days ago.
“The execution of the ambitious project has been affected, as the persons that the government appointed to lead the project do not seem to be interested,” Tulsi Prasad Sitaula, joint secretary at the MoPPW, told Republica on Monday. Sitaula said smooth functioning of the administrative and technical preparations of the project have been affected because of the absence of project chief.
Through the budget speech, Finance Minister Surendra Pandey had announced that construction works of the project would begin on July 16. The construction works formally started in November, four months later than the originally scheduled date.
In another setback to the project, the Ministry of Environment, Science and Technology (MoEST) has been delaying to approve the Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) report of the project, demanding further clarification from the MoPPW about the necessary co-operation from concerned VDCs lying along the road.
“As demanded by the MoEST, we have requested the concerned VDCs in four districts for their consent and cooperation on environment aspects and for land acquisition,” Sitaula informed.
The construction of the four-lane road project formally started in November, due to lengthy administrative procedures. Nepal Army (NA) has been entrusted to open track of the 76.2 km load that links the Kathmandu Valley with Nijgadh, Bara. The project is estimated to cost Rs 56 billion. NA has already begun demarcation of the road, setting up camps in two different places along the road.
The government has already sanctioned Rs 250 million and dispatched Rs 100 million to Directorate of Development and Military Engineering Service of NA, which is deploying a battalion to open the track.
The fast track road that links Sano Khokana of Lalitpur with Nijgadh in Bara is expected to significantly reduce the current 200km distance between the capital and the Tarai. Vehicles are expected to play at an average speed of 80 km per hour on the 14-meter wide express highway.
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