Kathmandu January 21.

The construction of road connecting Chaarali and Kechana along the Mechi highway is gaining momentum, The Division Road Office Damak had signed a contract with Lamar Mabtir World JV for the construction of ring road almost three years ago. However, the road construction did not take any stride. Locals have been elated now with the beginning of the construction of road reaching to Kachankawal, the lowest land of the country. Jhapa’s attractive tourism hub Kechana has been relegated to the back-burner in lack of road access to Kachankawal. The government had initiated the construction of ring road through Kachankawal monument to tap tourism potential of the area but the works did not progress for long. Sub-engineer at Division Road Office, Damak Saroj Subedi clarified that the road construction did not gain momentum due to dispute whether the federal or state government to mange budget for the road. The construction work has started when the federal government has assured to provide budget for road construction from the centre. He shared that placement of hum pipe and slab culvert would be undertaken along the construction of 8.2-km road. The first phase of construction works was already done, shared technician of contractor company Baidyanath Mahato. Kachankawal rural municipality chair Anjar Alam assured cooperation from the people’s representatives tot eh construction of road noting that the flow of domestic and foreign tourist has increased here with the initiaitio9n of road construction.