Narayangarh-Butwal road: Blacktopping begins in four years after laying foundation stone

Kawaswoti, March 16: Blacktopping has started at Kawaswoti area in the eastern section of East-West Narayangarh-Butwal road following four years since its foundation stone was laid. Blacktopping was done in 500-meter section of the road at forest area between Kawaswoti (around 30-km away from Narayangarh) and Lokaha. It may be noted that the foundation stone was laid for the Narayangarh-Butwal road section linking the east-west connectivity on 22 March 2019. Earlier, test blacktopping was undertaken in Harkapur in the eastern and Bhumahi in the western section of the road.

Narayangarh-Butwal Road Project manger Rakesh Jha informed that the four-km section between Kawaswoti and Lokaha would be blacktopped within a week. According to him, the 7.5-meter wide road towards north side of the highway was blacktopped in the first phase. “The blacktopping done on Wednesday was 6-cm thick. Additional 4-cm would be added in the second phase which is to be completed by mid-April”, he informed.

The progress of road widening project was only 26 percent by mid-March, the project sources informed. The Chinese Company, China State Engineering Corporation, was implementing the project at the total cost of over Rs 16 billion 995 million. The Asian Development Bank had provided 85 percent of the estimated project budget on loan assistance for the expansion of 115-km road from Gaindakot-based Narayani River Bridge to Butwal. As per the design, there would be six lane in settlement areas, four lane in forest areas and three lane in Daunne area.