Spread the love

Kathmandu, November 15: Under the Narayanghat–Butwal section of the East–West Highway, road expansion work in Gaidakot is being carried out only during the night. Since a 170-meter stretch west of the Narayani River bridge still remains to be blacktopped, the work has been moved to nighttime.

Shiv Khanal, Information Officer and Engineer at the Eastern Section of the Narayanghat–Butwal Road Project, said that work is being done every night from 10 PM to 4 AM the following morning. “Since vehicular pressure is extremely high during the day, it became difficult to work smoothly,” he said. “At night, the traffic volume is low, making it easier to carry out the road expansion.” He said the work was shifted to nighttime because daytime work caused long traffic jams, creating challenges for traffic management.

According to Khanal, if progress continues as scheduled, the blacktopping of this section will be completed within the next 10 days. Except for the Gaidakot section and the Daunne hill area, one-way blacktopping on the eastern section of the Narayanghat–Butwal road has already been completed, according to the project office. Khanal stated that after the end of the festive season, road expansion work has gained momentum.

“In Daunne, blacktopping is being carried out on a 3 km stretch, while slope work is ongoing on the remaining 10 km,” he said. “In areas where both sides have already been blacktopped, divider installation, service lane construction, and other beautification works are underway.” The physical progress of this road project has reached around 70 percent, according to Khanal. Out of the 114 km Narayanghat–Butwal section, 65 km fall under the eastern section and 49 km under the western section.

During the expansion, 100 km of this section is being widened to four lanes, while the 14 km Daunne stretch is being expanded to three lanes. Due to geographical challenges, the road in Daunne can only be expanded to three lanes, Khanal said. According to him, in urban areas, an additional two lanes each to the north and south of the main road will be constructed as “service lanes.”

People’s News Monitoring Service.