Officials involved in the work said that the road would be ready for vehicular movement within a week. They said the customs at Tatopani can be brought into operation if Nepalese government takes up the matter with the concerned Chinese officials.
Tatopani customs has remained closed because of the devastating earthquake in April and the landslides that followed blocked the highway. The task of clearing the road has reached close to the border point.
Officials said they are yet to clear around 200 meters of the road leading up to the Miteri Bridge and the customs there. Nepalese workers have cleared road obstructions up to Liping Market. They said clearing huge boulders along the road just 100 meters south of the border was a major challenge.
Revenue collection at Tatopani customs surges by 80 percent
They said they have planned to remove the boulders in the next five days. "We will remove it by all means," Chief District Officer Bal Bhadra Giri, who was at the site on Wednesday, told Republica. "The supply from this point can be resumed in a week if the higher authorities take diplomatic initiatives for that."
Giri also said that once the infrastructural work is completed, he will request the higher authorities to take diplomatic initiatives for resuming the supply.
The government had stepped up the work to clear the road section mainly after the supply of essential goods was disturbed due to disturbances along Nepal-India border.
According to sources, the Chinese side has assured of resuming the customs once Nepal removed debris along the road.
Nepal has been using excavators, dozers, loaders, drills and other equipment to speed up the work of removing boulders from the highway.
"The road department is bringing additional equipment on Thursday. If needed we will provide more equipment and resources," the CDO said. China had installed Bailey bridge to resume Miteri Bridge two months ago.
Director General of Department of Road, Madhav Karki, inspected work progress at the site on Monday. After returning from there, he sent five modern equipments to the area to clear the debris. Earlier, the government didn't expedite the task as it was waiting for the Chinese support to clear the road.
