CHITWAN, Jan 10:  The Narayanghat-Mugling road section closure is going to be extended for another three weeks. As the work of demolishing a mound to build a bridge over River Tuin in that road section has not been completed yet, the road will be closed again for three weeks during the afternoon.

Since December 23, the road has been shut for four hours every afternoon for three weeks. This period concludes next Saturday. Bhupendra Thapa, the Chief District Officer, said that despite the construction company's appeal for an extra month, they've decided to grant a three-week extension for work, maintaining the current road closure schedule.

He said the safety committee meeting on Thursday agreed to extend road closure for three more weeks. Plans were set to demolish the mound using explosives. He explained that this approach was chosen as a final option, considering the risk to the bridge during the demolition process.

He said, “Despite the four-hour window, we've effectively worked for about two to three hours to ensure access for emergency vehicles." There's a push to complete the work promptly. Engineer Krishna Acharya, the information officer for the Nagdhunga-Mugling road project's western section (Narayanghat-Mugling), said that a 14 meters section of the 60-meter mound has been demolished. Last year, it was reduced by 25 meters. The plan is to take down roughly half of the remaining 35 meters by Saturday.

He said that the work came to a halt last year because of hard rock encountered during blasting. This year, progress has accelerated since they began demolishing using 38-ton breakers. They've employed rock splitters and hydroline jackhammers to cut the rock where needed. Last year, they were limited to a 22-ton breaker. 

Acharya said that he was excited to see the speed of the work. During the demolition last year, initially 15 meters could be demolished easily. He said that it took 45 days to demolish the next 10 meters. Four of the 19 bridges on that road were built four years ago. The remaining 15 bridges were contracted simultaneously.

The construction of the bridge was started from 23 March 2020. The cost of the bridge is Rs 1.28 billion. This highway was built according to Asian standards with the help of the Asian Development Bank (ADB). The bridge is 11 meters wide. With the widening of the road, it has become 9 to 11 meters wide. This road is the main road to and from the capital. More than 10,000 vehicles pass through this road every day.

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