Likewise the widening and gravelling of the highway , a project of national pride, were the other major tasks accomplished this fiscal year.
The bridges at Sungure, Bandijor and Nyure areas along the Khurkot-Ghurmi section were completed and Chalnekhola bridge is in the final stage. Likewise, the construction of concrete bridges at Silsile, Musepa in Pachthar district concluded recently, informed Ananta Paudel, Senior Divisional Engineer in the Office of the Eastern Sector located at Buddhanagar in Kathmandu. [break]
The construction of bridges over Pikhuwa, Hingua and Yangla Rivers are underway along the 88km Bhojpur-Diktel section, and 30 bridges are at the designing stage.
The blacktopping of 18km stretch of the 60 km Khurkot- Ghurmi is underway, a tender for the next 18 km was recently awarded and the work will begin soon, according to the Office.
"We have almost met the target set for this year, but it will take two more weeks to prepare the final report to wrap up our work for this fiscal year," Paudel told Republica.
The widening of the Bhojpur-Diktel stretch has been completed and the gravelling of 40 km of the stretch is underway. Buses have already started plying in this section of the highway round the year. Likewise, the gravelling of 37km stretch of 99 km Jorsal-Myanglung at the final stage.
A total budget of Rs 1.25 billion was allocated for the eastern sector in this fiscal year.
Senior Divisional Engineer for the Khurkot -Ghurmi section, Madhav Bahadur Mahat, however, said that the work was disrupted for almost four months following disputes with the locals over compensation for their land. The matter was later settled by a local joint political mechanism. The work at Ghurmi-Diktel stretch has been affected during the monsoon due to the shortage of construction materials as there is no bridge over the Sunkoshi River.
Likewise, the construction of 28 bridges is underway, including one over the Karnali River. The bridges are likely to be completed within a year. Remaining ten bridges are being designed.
Balaram Mishra, project manager for the Western Sector of the Mid-hill Highway Project, said that over 90 percent of the construction work has been completed in the section. A total of Rs 780 million was alloted for the western sector this fiscal year. The road section spans from Kathmandu to Baitadi via Baglung to connect the mid hills with the road network.
The blacktopping of the 40 km of 80 km Banglung-Burtibang stretch is being carried out while gravelling is underway in the remaining part. "Sixtyfive percent of the construction of a 200 metre bridge over the Karnali River, which connects Achham and Dailekh, is over," informed Mishra.
"However, we could not complete the remaining 5 km of the track opening in Jajarkot due to the early monsoon this year," added Mishra. The 20 km track was cleared this year in the district.
Mishra said, "The widening of the track, making retaining walls, culvert construction is underway in several parts."
Mishra also revealed, "The distance of the Mid-hill Highway has been reduced to 1738 km from the previous estimation of 1776 km and is again likely to decrease as the work progresses."
The Mid-hill Highway was started in 2007/2008 to connect the mid-hill region from Panchthar to Baitadi.
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