KATHMANDU, AUG 04 - A feasibility study will be done to examine the possibility of reducing the 1,776-km length of the proposed Mid-Hill Highway by changing the alignment and building tunnels. The Department of Roads has signed a contract with two consultants to conduct the survey.
The two consultants, Integrated Developments and Research Services (IDRS) and Beam Consultant, will prepare a feasibility report identifying the locations where the highway can be shortened within 70 weeks. IDRS has been assigned the task of studying the portion east of Pokhara while Beam will study the section to its west.
From the existing 1,776-km length, the government is planning to bring it down to around 1,400-km to save travel time and reduce vehicle operating costs and the construction bill. Department officials said that the two consultants would start their work immediately after the rainy season ends.
Beside the feasibility study, black topping, gravelling and bridge construction works over selected sections of the highway will be carried out during the current fiscal year, according to Tulasi Prasad Sitaula, secretary at the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport. “Black topping for this year is planned only for those sections which could not be removed from the highway,” he added.
The budget this year has announced to black top the Baglung-Burtibang, Jorsal-Majhimtar, Ghurmi-Khurkot, Halesi-Diktel, Hile-Leghuwaghat-Bhojpur, and Ganeshchowk-Chiyobhanjyang sections. Black topping of 60 km, gravelling of 45 km, construction of 35 bridges and completion of the remaining 6 km track opening in western section are some of the targets of the highway project for the current fiscal year.
In this fiscal year, the government has allocated Rs 1.92 billion for the highway project for completing track opening, gravelling, bridge construction and black topping on some sections of the highway. With the contract period for the feasibility study being more than a year, the study will be completed only during the next fiscal year 2014-15.
“We expect to receive the draft feasibility study report this year and discuss it,” said Rajesh Kumar Yadav, chief of Planning and Design Branch at the department. The project is currently being executed based on the proposed length of 1,776 km, which also includes the existing routes of the highway, feeder roads and new road alignments approved by the government.
For the feasibility study, the department has separated the highway into two parts -east section (Chiyobhanjyang Ganeshchowk-Myglung-Basantapur-Hile-Bhojpur-Diktel-Ghurmi-Dhulikhel-Kathmandu-Pokhara) and west section (Pokhara-Baglung-Musikot Border-Rukumkot- Musikot-Chourjahari-Dailekh-Lainchour-Saijula-Belkhet-Mangalsen-Silgadhi-Satbanjh-Jhulaghat).
Two years ago, a detailed project report of the project conducted by Tech Studio of Engineering had also recommended adopting alternative alignments at some sections. It has concluded that the highway could be shortened by around 150-200 km.
No comments:
Post a Comment