KAVREPALANCHOK: Minister for Physical Infrastructure and Transport Kulman Ghising has urged the concerned authorities to ease travel in view of the upcoming festivals.

After inspecting various road sections under the Araniko Highway today, Minister Ghising held discussions with the Secretary of the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport, the Director General of the Department of Roads, Project Chief and contractors and directed them to make travel easier with preparations accordingly,” said Senior Divisional Engineer Suman Yogesh, Chief of the Road Division Office, Bhaktapur.

Minister Ghising had said that the ministry will take the initiative to complete the road expansion work within the current fiscal year and to prevent budget shortages for it.

Meanwhile, the upgrading work on the Suryabinayak-Dhulikhel road project of the Araniko Highway has stated that the process of blacktopping has begun in the Janagal area of Banepa Municipality-10. Currently, construction work is underway on a one km road from Chandeshwari Khola to Banepa Chardobato in the eastern part of Banepa, said the project’s engineer Bishnu Prasad Khanal. Work is gaining momentum in the Dhulikhel area and preparations are underway to blacktop the road in a few days.

The 16-kilometer-long road has been divided into two sections, from Suryabinayak to Sanga and from Sanga to Dhulikhel, and the expansion work is underway accordingly. Currently, 37 percent of the Suryabinayak-Sanga section and 50 percent of the Sanga-Dhulikhel section have been completed, Khanal said.

Under the project, an agreement was reached for the expansion of the 8.4-km road section from Sanga to Dhulikhel in the first phase at a cost of Rs 4.56 billion and the Suryabinayak-Sanga road section, which was started in the second phase at a cost of Rs 3.889 billion.