Chitwan, March 15: During the expansion of the Narayanghat-Butwal highway of the East-West Highway, 35 ‘underpasses’ will be constructed for wildlife.
Project Manager Rakesh Jha said that when the road construction is completed, a total of 35 underpasses will be prepared by 22 in the eastern section (Gaindakot-Daunne) and 13 in the western section (Daunne-Butwal).
It was informed that the number of small and large underpasses will be constructed to protect wildlife from road accidents and accidents caused by wild animals. According to him, some of the big bridges and culverts have been built as underpasses, while underpass structures will be built in places where there are no bridges and big culverts.
Jha said that the underpass to be constructed in this way will be 3 to 12 meters high and widened up to 16 meters as per requirement. Jha informed that cameras will be placed in the underpass to monitor wildlife.
Although there is no provision for an ‘overpass’ in the detailed project report of the project, the donor agency Asian Development Bank has expressed its intention to build an overpass a little east of the Binayi Khola bridge in Dumkibas, Jha says, and studies are being conducted in this regard.
Earlier last May, the government had issued guidelines for the construction of wildlife-friendly infrastructure and banned the construction of infrastructure that would endanger the lives of wildlife, and for the first time in Nepal, an underpass was constructed for wildlife on the Narayanghat-Muglin road section.
The construction company China State Engineering Corporation will expand the 115 km road from Narayani River Bridge in Gaindakot to Butwal with six lanes in the settlement area and four lanes in the forest area and three lanes in Daunne with the loan support of Asian Development Bank (ADB) at a total cost of around Rs 17 billion.
According to the project, 85 percent of the cost has been provided by ADB as a loan, while the rest will be funded by the government. ADB has provided a loan to be repaid in 32 years at an interest rate of 1.5 percent. The foundation stone was laid by then Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli on Chait 8, 2075 BS after an agreement was reached that the road construction work would be completed in three and a half years and the construction company would carry out the maintenance work for five years.
