BIRENDRANAGAR, Dec 14: Although it has been under development for one and a half years, the 35 km Dhuliawit-Bhedbari road project in Surkhet is moving at a snail’s pace. With only 25% progress made in one and a half years, the road is not making much progress.
The work started on July 12, 2021, and should be completed by December 29, 2023, but it is said that the work could not be done without permission from the Department of Forest.
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Kalika/KS/Vedansi JV has signed a contract for the construction of the 35 km Dhuliawit-Bhedabari road for Rs 1.3 billion including VAT. The Madan Bhandari Highway Planning Office Surkhet said that the work could not be done as per the target due to their failure to acquire permission to cut down the trees in the forest area of the highway. Jitendra Kumar Sah, engineer of the project office, said, "For a long time, we were not able to get the order to cut trees from the forest department, so the work is being done without cutting trees." Engineer Sah said that the contractor is working on opening the track, widening the road, drain construction, gavin and culvert. "The work of graveling 9 kilometers of the road section has been completed."
Along with Dhuliavit-Bhedbari road, a 94 km road will be constructed from Baddichaur to Karnali Chisapani. Karnali Provincial Government, Road Division and Madan Bhandari Highway Planning Office are working together by allocating the budget under this road section in Surkhet West. Madan Bhandari Highway will connect Shantinagar of Jhapa in the east to Rupal in Dadeldhura in the west.
Madan Bhandari Highway has been announced as the fourth highway among the east-west highways of Nepal. This highway will be 1,200 km long.