The government has extended the deadline for expanding the eastern section of the Pokhara-Muglin road along the Prithvi Highway by five months. A Chinese construction company, China Communications Construction, has been undertaking the expansion work.

Shyam Kumar Yadav, chief engineer of the Muglin Road Project’s Eastern Section, cited challenges such as labor mobilization issues due to the Covid-19 pandemic, delays in tree cutting, and relocation of electric poles for the delay in completing the road expansion work. Despite the end of the initial deadline, construction work continues, prompting the authorities to extend the deadline till mid-September.

Around 700 laborers are currently deployed across various sites to expand the eastern section spanning about 42 kilometers from Jamune to Ambukhaireni. The project has achieved 59 percent progress so far.

The construction company was awarded the contract, excluding the Madi river bridge, in mid-January 2021 for a sum of Rs 6.21 billion.

Furthermore, a separate contract worth Rs 1.21 billion has been granted for the construction of a 315-meter-long bridge over the Madi River. Most of the 505 houses slated for demolition in this section have already been cleared.

Under the western section, encompassing key areas like Pokhara and Dulegaunda, the road will feature six lanes and span 46 meters wide, narrowing to 18 meters from Jamune to the Kumle River. The remaining road section will be 23 meters wide. The contract agreement for the west section was inked in mid-May 2021 with the Chinese contractor company Anhui Kaiyuan Highway and Bridge, valued at Rs 7.40 billion.

Funded by a concessional loan from the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the Muglin-Pokhara road extension will see most areas with a road width of 25 meters in both directions. However, densely populated zones will have a 41-meter-wide road, while the market areas of Damauli and Dumre in Tanahun will have a similar width. The road width will extend to 46 meters from Dulegaunda to Khairenitar Bazar, encompassing the Kotre Bazar area and Gagangauda to Pokhara in Kaski.