LUMBINI: The construction of the Butwal-Gorusinghe section of the East-West Highway has begun with a focus on making it wildlife and pedestrian-friendly.
Designed with infrastructure features not commonly found on Nepal’s highways, the highway section will be environmentally sustainable, facilitating both wildlife and pedestrians, officials say.
The 50-kilometer stretch from Butwal to Gorusinghe will be expanded to four to six lanes.
Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli virtually inaugurated the road upgrade project on January 24. Works on the two bridges in Butwal and Kapilvastu are already underway.
According to Kushalata Neupane, the chief engineer at the Butwal-Gorusinge-Chandrauta Road Project Office, the road will include unique infrastructure not seen on other highways in Nepal. To facilitate wildlife movement, three dedicated crossings and 19 additional crossing points are being built on the road section. “Since the road passes through forested areas of Rupandehi and Kapilvastu, where wildlife accidents have been common, the road has been designed in a wildlife-friendly manner,” Neupane added.
Project officials say underpasses will be built to ease traffic flow in the urban areas of Rupandehi and Kapilvastu. Rupandehi will have five underpasses, while Kapilvastu will have one.
Engineer Ashok Paudel of the Butwal-Gorusinge-Chandrauta Road Project said a total of 30 bridges, 12 underpasses and 11 overpasses for pedestrians, six crossings for vehicles and three dedicated wildlife crossings will be built on the road section.
The project is being implemented by dividing the road into two sections. A joint venture of Shaanxi Construction Company of China and Ashish Construction Service of Nepal bagged the contract for Rs 13.55 billion – Rs 7.89 billion for Butwal-Kothinadi segment and Rs 5.66 billion for Kothinadi-Gorusinghe segment. The project will have to be completed within three years.
The road project is being funded with loan assistance from the World Bank.
Approximately 20 kilometers of the 50-kilometer road section pass through forested areas in Kapilvastu. A four-lane road with a width of 24 meters without service lanes will be built on Saljhandi-Pipara and Bangai-Gorusinghe stretch of this forested section. The road will be 37 meters wide in semi-urban areas and 50 meters in urban areas.
This road, originally built during the reign of King Mahendra, is being upgraded after 62 years.
Learning lessons from the Narayanghat-Butwal road expansion, project officials say Minister for Finance Bishnu Prasad Paudel has instructed contractors to start construction on one side of the road at a time to ensure smooth vehicular movement.
According to project officials, they are working to remove encroachments, trees and electricity poles along the right of way of the project. A total of 7,175 trees need to be felled for the road expansion works. Project officials say they are planting 71,250 saplings to minimize environmental damage.
