Kathmandu. The construction of a tunnel at Dobhan of Tinau rural municipality-3 of Palpa along the Siddhartha Highway has been completed by 65 percent.

The financial progress of the project is 56 percent. The tunnel with a length of 1126 meters has been completed.

Similarly, construction of three pipe tunnels of lengths 151, 161 and 130 meters has also been completed. Infrastructures such as access road to the tunnel, cliff protection work, retaining wall and other structures are under construction. In all, 2398 meters of the road needs to be upgraded.

A rock shed of 780 metres long, 3.43 metres wide and 4.4 metres high is yet to be constructed to make the road safer by preventing landslides and boulders. The construction of the rock shed will be started only after the operation of vehicles starts from the main tunnel.

On Sunday, Minister for Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation, Physical Infrastructure and Transport, and Urban Development Kulman Ghising visited the tunnel construction site and requested the concerned authorities to complete the project within the stipulated time.

Minister Ghising, who was present at the project site and was accompanied by Secretary at the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport Keshav Kumar Sharma, directed the contractors to finalize the issues through immediate decision. Ghising said that there should not be any delay in the construction work due to the lack of timely decision.

He said, “The contractors have demanded 19 months extension of the deadline citing the situation which is beyond control of the failure to provide the site on time, delay in deforestation and delay in advance payment. ’

The contract agreement for the construction of the tunnel was signed with the China State Construction Engineering Corporation on March 9, 2021 for Rs 7.34 billion (including taxes).

As per the agreement, the construction of the tunnel has to be completed by Chaitra 2083. After that, the company will operate and repair the tunnel for 1825 days. The construction of the tunnel is being done by the government of Nepal’s own resources.

Landslides, landslides and landslides have caused human casualties in the Siddhababa area during the rainy season and winter. The problem worsens during the rainy season and causes traffic jams for hours.

A tunnel way has been constructed at Siddhababa to solve this problem. The construction of the tunnel is expected to provide safe and reliable travel facility to the passengers traveling through Siddhartha Highway, reduce time and distance, reduce accidents and cost of vehicles.