Gandaki. The western section of the Pokhara-Muglin road (Pokhara-Jamune) is expected to be completed by this fiscal year. According to the project office, 59.76 per cent physical and 47.80 per cent financial progress has been made so far.

Krishna Bahadur Kunwar, chief engineer of the section, said that the first phase of blacktopping has been completed on 37.4 kilometers of the 38.88 km stretch so far. According to him, 29. A total of 61 km road has been blacktopped with four lanes while 7.79 km has been blacktopped.

Engineer Kunwar informed that the second layer of asphalt blacktopping has been completed in 18.3 kilometers (two lanes). Similarly, two kilometers of the service lane has been blacktopped, he said. The first phase of blacktopping is left to be done on 1080 metres of the Bijayapur bridge in Kaski, the nose of the hill and the Mauri Bhir.

The first layer of asphalt has been blacktopped in 3.23 kilometers of four lanes and the second level of asphalt has been blacktopped in 14 kilometers of two lanes since the beginning of the current fiscal year. According to the project office, the construction of two culverts has been completed in the same period.

“Most of the works related to road expansion, drainage and culvert construction have been completed”, he said, adding that the road construction would be completed within the current fiscal year. ’

The contract for the construction of the section, which started in August 2078 BS, is expected to expire till December. Engineer Kunwar said that the deadline was extended twice before the construction company failed to complete the work on time.

The Chinese construction company Yanhui Kaiyuan Highway and Bridge Construction is carrying out road expansion and up-gradation works along the stretch. Half of the road from Jamune of Tanahun to Setipul of Pokhara will be six lanes and half will be four-lane, said Engineer Kunwar. According to him, out of 13 bridges in the western section, 11 have been completed and two bridges are under construction.

According to him, all 15 culverts in the section have been constructed. The bridges have been constructed over Myagdekhola, Kumlekhola, Thadekhola, Samdhikhola, Mulkhola, Phedikhola-1, Fedikhola-2, Rudikhola, Haledikhola, Kalikhola and Kotrekhola of Kaski.

The construction of Bijaypur bridge in Kaski and Seti bridge under bridge contract is in the phase. The road under the Prithvi Highway, which was built 50 years ago, is being expanded and upgraded with the loan assistance of the Asian Development Bank. However, the construction of eastern section of the road (Jamune-Muglin) remaining as the lifeline of Gandaki state has reached the final phase.