Two firms issued LoI for study on shortening Mid-Hill Highway

KATHMANDU, JUN 09 -The government has issued the letter of intention (LoI) to two consultants for conducting a feasibility study on reducing the length of the Mid-Hill Highway.

The Department of Roads has said it will soon sign a contract with the consultants and come up with a new alignment plan for the national priority project within a year.

The two firms are Integrated Developments and Research Services (IDRS) and Beam Consultant. They will carry out the study in two packages. Under the package one, IDRS has proposed to conduct the study of the East section from Pokhara at Rs 1.76 million, excluding VAT. And, Beam has proposed to study the section West from Pokhara at Rs 7.27 million, according to the department.

The current length of the highway is 1,776 km, and many of its sections are overlapped with existing roads. The government, for the last two years, has been planning to cut the length of the highway by at least 300 km, adopting new alignments and tunnels wherever possible.

“The study will find out locations where we can cut the length technically and socially,” said Rajesh Kumar Yadav, chief of Planning and Design Branch at the department. He said the department will complete the study by the end of the next fiscal year. For the feasibility study, the department has separated the highway in two parts — section one (Chiyobhanjyang Ganeshchowk-Myglung-Basantapur-Hile-Bhojpur-Diktel-Ghurmi-Dhulikhel-Kathmandu-Pokhara) and section two (Pokhara-Baglung-Musikot Border-Rukumkot- Musikot-Chourjahari-Dailekh-Lainchour-Saijula-Belkhet-Mangalsen-Silgadhi-Satbanjh-Jhulaghat).

A detailed project report (DPR) conducted two years ago Tech Studio of Engineering (TSE) had recommended the government to adopt alternative alignments at some sections which could shorten the highway by around 150-200 km. The current alignment of the highway passes through 24 mid-hill districts and 215 VDCs. The project is currently being executed based on the proposed length of 1,776 km, which also includes existing routes of highway , feeder roads and new road alignments approved by the government.

 A reduction in the length of the highway will bring savings in travelling time, fare and vehicle operating costs, besides reducing the project cost. Department officials said although some sections of current alignment will be cut off from the highway plan after the feasibility study, fresh track opened will be developed as feeder roads. The government is scheduled to complete the remaining track opening in the West section within the current fiscal year. Yadav said only around 10-15 km is left for completing the track opening work.