SATV, Kathmandu, Feb. 12: The Ghorahi-Tulsipur four-lane road, which had been a recurring campaign issue in previous elections, has once again emerged as a key election agenda in this year’s House of Representatives election. Political parties have begun prioritising the project in their campaign platforms, particularly candidates from Dang constituencies 2 and 3.
However, the road, which had remained stalled for a long time during construction, has now seen progress after a new contract. As construction work has begun to move forward at a faster pace, candidates from various political parties have also started competing to take credit, claiming that the progress is the result of their own initiatives. With construction now assured and advancing rapidly, political parties are preparing to include the project prominently in their election manifestos and present it to voters.
In Dang constituency 2, electoral candidate and CPN-UML General Secretary Shankar Pokhrel has been claiming that the road project gained momentum due to his active involvement and initiatives. He has stated that due to delays and negligence by the previous contractor, the people of Dang had to suffer for a long time. He further claimed that after terminating the old contract and entering into a new agreement funded directly by the government, construction of the Ghorahi-Tulsipur four-lane road began to progress.
Similarly, Nepali Congress candidate Kiran Kishor Ghimire and Nepali Communist Party candidate Nirmal Acharya from the same constituency have also been asserting that during their party’s tenure in government, the old contract was cancelled and a new agreement was made, which accelerated the construction of the road.
Meanwhile, in Dang constituency 3, Nepali Congress central committee member and candidate Deepak Giri has also claimed that the construction gained momentum due to his efforts. He has stated that, in his capacity as a Member of Parliament from the area, he repeatedly raised the issue in Parliament, which eventually led to the termination of the old contract and the advancement of the project through a new contract.
Currently, the upgrading and construction of the Ghorahi-Tulsipur four-lane road is being carried out under a contract signed on July 8, 2025, with Kathmandu-based Diva-Bandan Bhagwati JV. The project, with a total cost of Rs. 2.52 billion, is scheduled for completion by July 8, 2028. Construction work has been underway since last November.
Previously, the contract for upgrading the road had been awarded to an Indian construction company, Tathya Engineering and Infra Project Pvt. Ltd., Mumbai. As there was no satisfactory progress within the stipulated time, the Government of Nepal cancelled the contract in 2023. Subsequently, the project was re-awarded through a new bidding process, and construction resumed under the new agreement with Diva-Bandan Bhagwati JV.
According to Sunil Dhungana, managing engineer of Diva-Bandan Bhagwati JV, out of the approximately 21-kilometre stretch from DK Petrol Pump in Ghorahi to Hathikhau in Tulsipur, construction work in the first phase will cover the section from Gurjekhola to Saudikula. As per the agreement, the road will have a 20-metre-wide asphalt carriageway in urban areas, with footpaths, maintaining a total width of 30 metres.
