POKHARA, Feb 9: The Pokhara-Mugling section of the Prithvi Highway is currently undergoing expansion, with the road from Pokhara to Abukhaireni being widened. The project involves dividing the road into two sections: the 41 km East section, running from Abukhaireni to Jamune, and the 39 km West section, stretching from Jamune to Pokhara. The construction company has been contracted to complete the expansion within a three-year timeframe.

The eastern section of the construction project was contracted in April 2021, while the western section was contracted in August of the same year. Despite nearly two years having elapsed since the signing of the agreement, only a meager 14% of the work on the eastern section and a mere 4% on the western section has been finished. As per the terms of the contract, the work was expected to be completed by mid-2024, but with only 10% of the road-widening work accomplished in the past two years, this deadline may be in jeopardy.

Recently, the tourism industry has been impacted by the plane crash in Pokhara, with businessmen expressing concerns about both air and land travel. Despite the expansion of the Pokhara-Abukhaireni road, the haphazard demolition of the road has caused difficulties for tourists, leading to a decrease in the number of visitors to Pokhara. Tourism professionals are also raising concerns about the slow pace of road expansion and the challenges it presents for travel.

Pom Narayan Shrestha, chairman of Pokhara Tourism Council (PTC), says, “The demolition only gained momentum, but construction did not. Earlier, it was possible to reach Mugling easily from Pokhara in three hours, but now it takes up to six hours. It is not sure where and for how long travelers will be stuck in the traffic jam. So, no one is ready to travel unless they have essential work.”

Prior to the highway expansion, it was a journey of three hours to traverse the 90 km stretch of the Pokhara-Mugling road and on a private vehicle it would take two and a half hours. However, the Pokhara-Kathmandu road, spanning 200 km, used to be completed in five hours but now it takes at least 5-6 hours to cross just the Pokhara-Mugling section and a minimum of 10-12 hours to reach Kathmandu.

The Pokhara-Abukhaireni road has undergone a major transformation with the help of a subsidized interest loan from the Asian Development Bank (ADB). The previously two-lane road has been extended and upgraded to a four-lane highway. This extensive road expansion project has an investment of Rs 13.61 billion. According to Narendra Subedi, the head of the eastern road section of the project, the highway widening work is progressing at a rapid pace.

“Now the highway expansion work is going on. The work has been done more rapidly in the Tanahun section,” he said, “14 percent of the work in the eastern road section has been completed. In the West, only 4 percent work has been done. About 10 percent of the work has been done.”

It has not yet been decided how the Abukhaireni-Mugling  road segment will be expanded. “Now the work is being done at full speed. Road expansion in the Tanahun road section has gained more speed,” said Subedi. According to Subedi, Rs 6.21 billion will be spent for Abukhaireni-Jamune in the eastern road section and Rs 7.44 billion for the west section from Jamune to Pokhara.

According to him, it will be a six-lane road in the market area of the highway. The market road section will be 41 to 45 meters wide and the rest of the space will be of four-lane which includes 21 to 22 meters wide. Subedi said that right and left drains and a three-meter wide divider in the middle will also be constructed. The divider will be beautified as well.

According to Subedi, four big and 14 small bridges will be constructed along the Abukhaireni-Jamune section. He said that the size of the bridge will also be expanded within this budget. Those bridges will also be as wide as the size of the road. “It is not enough to widen the road, but also to build the bridges accordingly. Therefore, all road sections will be completed,” he said. China Communication Construction Company has been awarded the contract for the expansion of the eastern road section. The western road section expansion work has also been undertaken by a Chinese company named Anhui Kaiyuan Highway and Bridge Company.

Four big and eight other small bridges will be constructed along the western section as well. The bridges of Bijayapur, Kotre, Kumle and Myagde are of large size. There are other small bridges too. According to him, there are two big bridges along the Pokhara-Abukhaireni road section. The bridge over the Seti River in Pokhara and the one over the Madi River in Damauli are big bridges which are not included in this project.

Chief Minister of Gandaki Province, Khagaraj Adhikari is also worried about the delay in the highway expansion. In a discussion with tourism professionals, the Chief Minister said that although the highway is being widened, the ‘access road’ should be widened so that the destination can be reached within the specified time. According to him, the journey has now become more difficult after all sections were demolished. “Five kilometers of work should be completed at a time and work should be started for another five kilometers, but here all sections have been demolished and left in a state of mess,” he said.

Chief Minister Adhikari said that when the contractor did not work according to the contract, the passengers traveling through the land route suffered and it also affected tourism. He said that although the contractor had an agreement to build a road at the rate of 5-5 km and to build an 'access road' parallel to it, they did not follow it. The Chief Minister said that when the Pokhara Regional International Airport has come into operation, the contractor has refused to start the work from Pokhara.

“If necessary, I am in favor of terminating the contract and selecting a new contractor,” he said. I have repeatedly asked the contractor's representative to speed up the work. He said that if the expansion starts from Pokhara, the road leading to the airport will be ready when the airport is operational. At present, the Prithvi Highway is the main road connecting Gandaki Province to the capital and Terai. This highway was not widened for a long time. Lately, the highway was almost dilapidated. A journey on this road was difficult and took more time as there were potholes on the highway.

 
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