Palpa, December 24
Starting January 1, 2024, the Butwal-Palpa road section, part of the Siddhartha Highway, will undergo a daily closure of six hours for 100 days.
The District Administration Office, Palpa, said the highway will be closed from 10 am to 4 pm every day.
Chief District Officer of Palpa, Anand Kafle, has announced that per the decision made during the meeting of the Highway Safety Committee held at the District Administration Office, vehicular movement will be halted for 100 days starting from January 1.
This decision is part of the efforts to enhance highway safety in the region. The project office, however, has issued instructions not to stop emergency vehicles, including ambulances.
The specific area of concern spans approximately 3 kilometres along the Butwal-Palpa road, from Lower Siddhababa in Butwal to Dobhan Chowki in Palpa, where landslides have made the road unsafe. To address this issue, tunnelling work is underway.
The China State Construction Engineering Corporation has been awarded a contract amounting to Rs 7.34 billion for the construction of a 1,126-meter-long tunnel in this area. The tunnelling project aims to improve safety and mitigate the risks associated with landslides along this section of the Siddhartha Highway.
During the construction of the tunnel, the project office requested permission to halt vehicle traffic at specific locations, including the south portal, north portal, bypass tunnels number 1 and 2, and the slope area of the tunnel. The request was made due to the challenges of working in cramped conditions caused by the narrowness of the road.
Subsequently, in a meeting convened at the district administration office, a decision was reached to close the road starting from January 1. This closure aims to facilitate uninterrupted construction work and achieve the desired results in the tunnel construction project.
