KATHMANDU, Nov 11: A technical team of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has initiated on-site inspection for the reconstruction of the BP Highway damaged by the landslide that occurred on September 28.
The Division Road Office, Bhaktapur reported that the inspection was carried out twice during the last week of October, including on Thursday.
The Division Road Office was waiting for JICA’s decision for the reconstruction of the damaged road. Senior Divisional Engineer Suman Yogesh said that the technical team of JICA has already inspected twice and will prepare a report by the first week of December. According to Yogesh, the Government of Nepal is preparing to initiate the reconstruction work after receiving the inspection report from JICA.
On October 16, Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli held a courtesy meeting with Kikuta Yutaka, ambassador of Japan to Nepal, to discuss the cooperation for highway reconstruction.
Asakuma appointed chief representative of JICA Nepal
“We are waiting for JICA's response. The construction will begin after JICA prepares the report by the first week of December. We are not in favor of delaying the reconstruction,” said Engineer Yogesh, adding, “We have started preparation of the design along with the discussions with the relevant agencies to begin the reconstruction.”
Yogesh informed Republica that the division road office will begin the road reconstruction work by itself within two months if JICA decides not to construct the road. The cost of reconstructing the damaged section of the highway is estimated to cost around Rs 7 billion.
The BP Highway, which connects Dhulikhel with Bardibas via Sindhuli, suffered the most damage in the road section from Chowkidanda in Kavrepalanchok to Barkhe Khola in Sindhuli. Although the highway damaged by floods and landslides was brought back into operation after two weeks, the office has been halting traffic movement from 6 PM to 10 hours at night since October 16 due to the risk as the road condition is not ideal.
The highway, which serves as a short route connecting Kathmandu with the mid-hill and Eastern Nepal, has been brought into operation for one-way traffic at some places after repairing the damaged section.
“Currently, temporary structures have been constructed for the operation of the road,” said Yogesh.
The highway after reconstruction will have two lanes.
The construction of the 160 km BP Highway was initiated in the fiscal year 1996/97 with the support of the Japanese government.
The construction was completed on July 3, 2015 and the Japanese government formally handed it over to the Government of Nepal. At that time, the highway was built with a grant of 26 billion yen from the Japanese government and 1.1 billion yen contributed by the Government of Nepal.
