The road upgradation work on the Syaphrubesi-Rasuwagadhi road section will start in October, road officials have said.

According to Mailung Syaphrubesi Rasuwagadhi Road Project, they have to demolish 82 houses and huts and remove 323 utility poles from the road area. Narayan Datta Bhandari, chief at the road project, said that they had started the process to provide compensation for the land acquired by the project. “We have started clearing the infrastructure on both sides of the road from Saturday,” said Bhandari.

The length of Syaphrubesi-Rasuwagadhi road is around 16km. It is a single lane rough road. According to the officials, the Chinese side informed them that the project would be completed within 39 months of its starting date.

Road upgradation work along the Galchhi-Trishuli-Mailung-Syphrubesi-Rasuwagadhi road is scheduled to be conducted in three phases. The road expansion work, construction of the retaining wall and the drainage canal are underway along the Mailung-Syaphrubesi section in the first phase. About 50 percent work has been completed so far in this section, project officials say. The Nepal Army has also opened the track along the 18-km Mailung-Syabrubesi section and handed over the project to the Department of the Roads.

The Galchhi-Trishuli-Mailung-Syphrubesi-Rasuwagadhi is a national pride project that has been deemed as a strategic road network connecting the southern and northern neighbours. This 82-km highway is key to implementing the Transit Transport Agreement signed between Nepal and China in 2016.