Galchhi-Mailung road to be closed for 8 hours a day

Kathmandu, Nov. 30: The government is mulling to stop the movement of vehicles along the Galchhi-Trishuli-Rasuwagadhi highway immediately after the second phase of the elections for at least eight hours a day.

“In order to expedite the road expansion works, it’s necessary to stop vehicular movement along the 46-kilometre section of the highway from Galchhi to Mailung,” said Subodh Devkota, chief of Galchhi Trishuli Mailung Syaprubeshi Rasuwagadhi Road Project.

He said that the road would be closed for vehicles from 7 to 11 am in the morning and 1 to 5 pm in the afternoon, after it receives a nod from the District Administration Office (DAO), Nuwakot.

The project had sent a proposal to the DAO to close the road, and the office was to take a decision on it today, but as the Chief District Officer (CDO) was transferred on Wednesday, the meeting has been postponed till December 4.

According to Devkota, it is very difficult to work and use heavy equipment while vehicles are plying on the road simultaneously, so there is an urgency to halt vehicular movements for at least eight hours during the day.

The national pride project has made only 10 per cent progress since the road widening works commenced about 15 months ago.

According to the tender document published by the Department of Roads (DoR) on May 29, 2016, the construction period is of 21 months and the defect liabilities period of the contract will be five years from the issuance of the certificate.

Devkota said that the work was delayed mainly due to lack of cooperation in land acquisition by the Department of Forests and other stakeholders.

The road will be expanded to a double lane with 7-metre blacktopping and a 9-metre carriageway.

While the DoR is expanding the lanes on the Galchhi-Trishuli-Mailung road section, the Nepal Army is opening a 16-km track from Mailung to Syaphrubeshi and China is constructing a 16- km road on the Syaprubeshi-Rasuwagadhi section.

Meanwhile, the Nepal Trans-Himalayan Border Commerce Association said that the closure of the road would have serious impact on Nepal-China trade as well as on tourism.

“Due to the difficult road in the mountainous region, we are unable to import goods for winter as well as apples and raw materials to meet the market demand. At the same time, the Rasuwagadhi border point was shut for 76 hours during the first phase of the elections,” said Niraj Rai, secretary of the Association.

He said that the closure of the road during the daytime would force the containers to halt at different locations along the highway, which would raise the cost of doing business.

Currently 50 to 70 containers enter Nepal from the Rasuwagadhi border point.

After the Gorkha Earthquake 2015 devastated settlements on both sides of the Tatopani-Khasa border, China relocated the people of Khasa, and Keyrung-Rasuwagadhi has become the only point for doing business with China and for tourists to come in.

“Therefore, the government should let the containers and passenger vehicles roll on the road during the day and work at night,” said Rai.