Araniko Highway expansion gets green signal from locals

April 22, Kathmandu: The expansion of the Sanga-Dhulikhel road along the Araniko Highway will now move ahead.

An agreement has been reached to continue the construction of the Banepa-Budol area under the project. The construction of the section had been stalled for the past one and a half months.

The construction was stopped for over 45 days with the High Court Patan’s order.

Construction works will now continue following a meeting of the local stakeholders and write petitioners agreeing to immediately withdraw the case.

The agreement was reached at a meeting chaired by the Deputy Chair of the District Coordination Committee, Kavrepalanchowk, Rim Bahadur Tamang on Sunday.

Similarly, the meeting agreed to divert the water from the under-construction culvert to the Chandeshwari rivulet through a separate drain within the road boundary without passing it through individual land.

Thirteen people from Budol of Banepa municipality-6 had filed a writ petition on March 3, naming Suryabinayak-Dhulikhel-Sindhuli-Bardibas Road Project Office Bhaktapur, project chief Rajendra Das and Banepa-based ward offices 6 and 7 as defendants.

The contract for the expansion of Suryabinayak-Sanga and Sanga-Dhulikhel roads was signed on March 2023 at the cost of Rs 4 billion 56.4 million with the stipulation to complete the work in three years.