June 25: A Chinese team has arrived in the country to design a tunnel under the second package of the Kathmandu-Terai Fast Track. The Chinese team of Poly Chhangda Engineering Corporation will design the tunnel between Dhadrekhola to Lanedada and a special bridge in this section. 

As per the contract agreement signed on May 14, a group of 14 people from the company arrived in Nepal on Wednesday, June 23, on a chartered flight. The agreement was signed to build the Fast Track under Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) model. Spokesperson of the Nepalese Army Santosh Ballabh Poudel informed that the officials of the company who got the contract for the second package have arrived.

"The team consists of the necessary experts, including project managers, tunnels, bridges and road engineers," Poudel said, adding, “The team will design the structure and start field work after completing quarantine."

The human resources of the company present in the country have already started the work of geophysical and geotechnical survey and the team that arrived on Wednesday will look into the design of the tunnel. 

"It is an achievement that the team has arrived in the country even in such difficult times. This will help to complete the project on time," Brigadier General Poudel added. 

The design of the project to be constructed through this medium should also be done by the same company.

As per the agreement, the design has to be completed within six months. He said that the army would facilitate the team to start the design work as soon as possible. Similarly, a team of China State Construction Engineering Corporation Limited, which was awarded the contract to build the first package of the Chhokredanda-Dhedrekhola tunnel, will also arrive in Kathmandu in two or three days, he said.

The Nepalese Army has signed agreements with two Chinese companies  to build special bridges with tunnels within three and a half years at an estimated cost of Rs 50.14 billion. The army had signed the contract despite a directive from the Public Accounts Committee of the parliament to cancel the process citing irregularities in the process.

The cost of the first package of the bridge construction including the tunnel is estimated to be Rs 21.61 billion while that of the second package is Rs 28.53 billion. The company will complete the design in six months and the tunnel / bridge construction within the next three years. The 72.5 km long fast-track will have tunnels at three different locations and 16 complex bridges.