August 31: The road from Sanga to Dhulikhel in Kavrepalanchowk is to be expanded in three years. This initiative is a part of the drive to widen the road from Suryabinayak to Dhulikhel along the Araniko Highway.   

The government has called for bids with an estimated cost of Rs 4.89 billion for the expansion of Sanga-Dhulikhel road.       
In this connection, the Suryabinayak-Dhulikhel-Sindhuli-Bardibas road project has solicited bids. The project office has already prepared the Detail Project Report (DPR) for the expansion of the road section. As per the DPR, it requires Rs 9 billion for the expansion of Suryabinayak-Dhulikhel road. A separate bidding would be solicited for the construction and widening of the road from Sanga to Suryabinayak.    

Senior divisional engineer of the project Shambhu Prasad Acharya said the bidding was called for the expansion of Sanga-Dhulikhel road along the Kavrepalanchowk section under the Suryabinayak-Dhulikhel road widening drive as problem had surfaced in 1.5 to 2-km portion of road in Sanga. The Kavrepalanchowk section stretching from Sanga to Dhulikhel is around 10 kilometers. According to Acharya, the contract winner is obliged to complete the construction within three years and also should take up the responsibility for maintenance of the road for up to one year.    
The bidding process would be completed in mid-September and contract signing would be held soon after.    
As per the DPR, the contractor should construct a four-lane motorable road and service lane with two-meter foot path on both the sides.    
Acharya shared that the construction works would gain momentum from mid-October this year.    
It may be noted that the project had issued a 35-day notice in July urging the owners to remove unauthorized structures from both sides of the highway.    
The Department of Roads had initiated the process to expand the road from Dhulikhel to Bhaktapur via Banepa some years ago taking into consideration huge traffic pressure.  

It has been learnt that the Department of Roads intensified preparation for the road expansion drive on its own using internal resources after the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) pulled out of the project. -- RSS