By Ram Mani Dahal
Hetauda, Feb. 7: Construction of the Madan Bhandari Highway, which is under construction between the Mid-Hills Highway and the East-West Highway, has picked up pace amid the risk of COVID-19 pandemic. 
The highway, which was started as the Dharan-Chatara-Hetauda project, has now become a lifeline for inner Madhes from Sunsari to Makwanpur districts.  
The Hetauda-Sindhuli-Chatara-Dharan road, whose construction began by establishing a planning office in Kathmandu in the fiscal year 2007/2008, has been included in the national pride project since the fiscal year 2015/2016. 
The highway has been divided into east and west section, where 135-km-long road from Basaha in Udayapur district to Bhiman in Kamalamai Municipality-9 falls on the former, and 115-km-section moving along Bhiman to Hetauda-Chaughada in Hetauda Sub Metropolitan-6 belongs to the latter. Likewise, 48 kilometres of the road falls in Makwanpur district and 67 kilometres in Sindhuli. 
According to Arjun Aryal, Chief of the Eastern Section of the highway, 82 kilometres of the 115-km road has already been blacktopped. Likewise, most of the west section has been already paved, and the vehicles have started moving through the road.
Chairperson of Pawas Milk Producers Cooperatives at Bakaiya Rural Municipality Ward No. 5 in Makwanpur said that construction of the project would help bring about significant changes in the socio-economic condition of people in inner Madhes.
“The road will ease not only the movement of the people, but also will foster trade as farmers can sell their produce to nearby markets. Moreover, people can easily visit hospitals, and children will not have to go on arduous journey to get to their schools,” he added.
The road connecting Makwanpur district to Sindhuli, whose constrcution began in the fiscal year 2011/2012 had stalled for an extended period of time.
However, since last year, the work on the highway has picked up pace considerably. The large-scale bridge over the Bagmati River connecting the two districts has finally gained momentum after years of sluggishness. Apart from the Bagmati Bridge, there are 33 bridges along the west section of the highway, and construction of 31 of them has already completed. The remaining two bridges within Sindhuli will be ready soon, according to Aryal.
The contract for the east and the west section of the highway was issued in November 2016 at over Rs. 9 billion to complete it within three years.
However, Project Chief Aryal said the COVID-19 outbreak disrupted the works, thereby pushing the project timeline. “We have extended the project by six more months,” he said. Furthermore, Aryal emphasised the importance of the infrastructure saying that it would prove to be a lifeline for inner Terai.
“Almost 90 per cent of the road work and 83 per cent of bridge work along the highway have been completed,” he added.