KATHMANDU, June 28: A massive rock face at the well-known Ghartibhir cliff has been blasted to open a new road linking Diktel to the Sagarmatha Highway through a shorter route.
The road passes near the border of Khalle in Diktel Rupakot Majhuwagadhi Municipality and Rajapani in Halesi Tuwachung Municipality.
The project involved cutting through the towering rock formation at Ghartibhir, a major obstacle that had prevented completion of the Diktel-Ahale-Regmitar road section.
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The road was built at a cost of Rs 10.78 million through the Khotang Infrastructure Development Office under the Koshi Province government. The contract, awarded to Kamala Construction and Suppliers of Udayapur, was financed from a Rs 20 million budget allocated for the current fiscal year.
According to the Infrastructure Development Office, the contractor spent about five months breaking the rock with an excavator fitted with a hydraulic breaker before carving out the roadway.
The road was officially inaugurated on Saturday by former Koshi Province Minister for Physical Infrastructure Development and Health, Bhupendra Rai.
Rai said the new route is significantly shorter than the existing Mahure, Buipa, Rajapani, Regmitar roads.
"The previous route was much longer. By cutting through Ghartibhir, we have opened a straighter and shorter road that will benefit both travelers and transport operators," he said.
Although plans to cut through the cliff had existed for years, no agency had attempted the challenging work until the establishment of the Infrastructure Development Office in Khotang, which secured the required funding.
With the completion of the road, vehicles will be able to travel from Diktel to eastern Tarai districts via Ahale, Rajapani and Regmitar, reducing travel distance by about 17.5 kilometers compared with the older route through Mahure and Buipa.
Tirtha Raj Bhattarai said the municipality had already invested more than Rs 15 million to build approach roads from both sides of Ghartibhir before the rock cutting was completed.
He said regular vehicle service would begin after the remaining works are completed.
The municipality has given top priority to the Diktel, Khanidanda, Ahale, and Regmitar roads because they provide the shortest connection between Diktel and the eastern Tarai.
Officials expect the road to make passenger travel easier and reduce the cost and time required to transport food, fuel, construction materials and other essential goods into Khotang.
Construction is also underway on a motorable bridge over the Dikhu River along the same corridor with funding of Rs 30 million. Steel trusses worth more than Rs 20 million have already been delivered to the site.
The bridge is expected to end seasonal transport disruptions, as traffic on the existing dirt road is typically cut off for nearly six months during the monsoon due to flooding of the Dikhu River.
Once completed, the new Diktel, Khanidanda, Ahale, Regmitar road will offer a much shorter alternative to the existing 59-kilometre Diktel, Mahure, Rajapani, Regmitar route, where blacktopping work remains incomplete.
