Dharahara construction: 30% works over

Maitrinews

Kathmandu : Approximately 30 per cent of construction works for a new Dharahara at the site where the historic tower was standing before the 2015 earthquake have been over.

Plastering the second floor is underway currently. Over 150 workers, Nepalis and Indians, have been working on the project.

After more than three years of the destruction of the tower by the devastating earthquake, the construction had begun following the laying of the foundation stone by Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli on December 27, 2018. The completion deadline for the Rs 3.4 billion project is two years.

Heritage expert Raju Man Manandhar, who works for the National Reconstruction Authority (NRA), claims that the project will be completed by the deadline. To complete the project on time, 50 per cent of the construction works should be over in the next two months, claims the NRA.

The government had directed for the construction of the tower aesthetically similar to the old tower, using the latest earthquake-resilient technologies. The 11-storey new tower covering an area of 22 ropani will be approximately 294 feet tall with two elevators.

Meanwhile, the ruined base of the original Dharahara will be preserved as a memorial of those killed in the earthquake. Likewise, there will be a park, a museum, a water fountain, an exhibition hall, shops, restaurants, a library and a parking lot. The site will be friendly to children and elderly people.