KATHMANDU: A team including the project manager of China’s Poly Changda Engineering Company, which has been awarded the contract for the construction of Package No. 2 Dhedre-Lendanda Tunnel under the Kathmandu-Terai-Madhesh Expressway, has arrived in Kathmandu today.
The Expressway is being constructed with the management of the Nepal Army. The company’s expert team has arrived in Kathmandu on a chartered flight from Guangzhou under the coordination of the Nepal Army at a time when transportation is being hampered due to the risk of infection with Covid-19.
The team that came for the main work of tunnel design includes a 14-member expert group including company project manager and tunnel, bridge and road engineer, said Nepal Army spokesperson Santosh Ballabh Poudel.
An agreement was reached with Poly Changda to construct the Dhedre-Lendanda tunnel at Makawanpur under the Kathmandu-Terai-Madhesh Expressway, a priority of national pride, at a cost of Rs. 28.53 billion. The team will speed up the design work by setting up an office. The group of the company in Nepal has already started the survey work after visiting the place.
Poly Changda’s team has come to Kathmandu showing determination and readiness to complete the design work within six months of the agreement.
The agreement stipulates that the tunnel should be completed within three years of the design being completed.
The Army had signed contract agreements with China State Construction Engineering Corporation Limited for Package No. 1 and Poly Changda Engineering Company for Package No. 2.
An agreement has been reached to build the first package at a cost of Rs. 21.3 billion. The first package has one and the second package has two small tunnels.
After the construction of the expressway based on the standards of the Asian Highway, the distance of road transport from the Central and Eastern Terai to the Kathmandu Valley will be significantly reduced.
The construction of the expressway from Khokana in Lalitpur to Nijgadh in Bara on the East-West Highway is expected to transform the country’s economic development and prosperity.
