On 15 April the Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal switched on the electric control for the breakthrough of the 2,688 m Nagdhunga tunnel connecting Sisnekhola of Dhading to Totipakha of Chandragiri Municipality-1 in Kathmandu in Nepal. The breakthrough of the safety tunnel was in July-August, 2023.    

The total cost of the project is around EUR 246.62 million (INR22 bn), three-quarters of which is supported by the government of Japan with high concessional loans to the Government of Nepal. The construction work - started in October 2019 - is contracted to the Japanese company Hazma Ando Corporation. The project was supposed to be completed in three-and-a-half years, but it was delayed because digging a tunnel in the Himalayan mountainous region is an unimaginably difficult challenge - the inside of the evacuation and main tunnels were repeatedly hit by unexpected floods and collapses during the extremely difficult excavation work; outside the tunnels, heavy rain caused landslides on the slope faces – and the Covid-19 pandemic followed by a shortage of construction materials a few months ago delayed the progress.   

The road tunnel will open to the regular operation in about a year. With the project’s completion, commuters on the Nagdhunga-Naubise stretch will be able to avoid at least 19 hairpin bends and sharp curves along an 8 km section of the roadway. According to a 2015 preparatory survey, it takes around 34 minutes to navigate the 8 km section following the route’s existing alignment. For further information Click here and np/21 for tunnelbuilder archive and visit https://www.jica.go.jp/english/information/. 16/24.