The four-lane expansion of the Butwal–Gorusinge road, a key section of the East–West Highway in Lumbini Province, is running well behind schedule, with physical progress standing at just 29 percent even as the project's three-year completion window steadily closes. According to a Nepal Press report, the delay has been driven by a shortage of construction materials, slow side clearance along the alignment and various disasters that have hit the country since work began. With roughly a year left before the Kartik 2084 deadline, the project looks increasingly unlikely to be finished on time.
A three-year deadline slipping away
The agreement for the four-lane expansion of the Butwal–Gorusinge section was reached in Kartik 2081, and the project was formally launched with the laying of its foundation stone on 10 Magh 2081, in late January 2025. From the outset, the plan was ambitious: the entire expansion was to be completed within three years, by Kartik 2084.
That timeline is now in serious doubt. Physical progress on the road stands at only 29 percent, according to the report, leaving more than two-thirds of the work still to be carried out with about a year remaining on the project's clock. At the current pace, completing the remaining construction within the original deadline appears highly unlikely.
The gap between the target and the ground reality underscores how sharply the pace of work will need to accelerate in the months ahead if the Kartik 2084 completion date is to have any chance of being met. For a project that began with a clear three-year roadmap, the shortfall in progress marks a significant departure from the plan set when the foundation stone was laid.
What is holding up construction
The report identifies a combination of practical obstacles that have slowed the expansion since work got underway:
- Shortage of construction materials: A lack of construction materials has disrupted the steady flow of work needed to keep a road expansion of this scale on schedule.
- Slow side clearance: Clearance work along the roadside has moved slowly, holding back the broader expansion effort on the section.
- Disasters across the country: Various disasters in the country over the course of the project have added to the delays, compounding the other challenges facing the construction site.
Taken together, these factors have pushed the project well off its original trajectory. Material shortages in particular can stall construction in ways that are difficult to recover from, since work on a highway expansion depends on a continuous, reliable supply chain. Similarly, when side clearance lags, the physical widening of the carriageway cannot proceed as planned along the affected stretches.
None of these obstacles on its own may seem extraordinary, but their combined effect over the project's first two years has been enough to leave progress at under a third of the total work with the deadline now fast approaching.
Part of a bigger push along the East–West Highway
The importance of the Butwal–Gorusinge expansion is highlighted by what is happening elsewhere on the corridor. A new expansion plan for the Gorusinge–Chandrauta section, which lies further along the same route, has underscored just how significant upgrading the East–West Highway has become.
The Butwal–Gorusinge section is a stretch of that national highway, and its conversion to four lanes is part of a wider effort to modernize the country's principal east–west transport artery. As new plans are drawn up for adjoining sections such as Gorusinge–Chandrauta, the timely completion of each individual section takes on added weight: the value of a four-lane standard along the corridor depends on the sections connecting smoothly rather than leaving upgraded and unupgraded stretches side by side.
That makes the slow progress on Butwal–Gorusinge a matter of concern not only for the project itself, but for the broader ambition of upgrading the East–West Highway as a whole.
The road ahead
As things stand, the project must complete the remaining 71 percent of physical work within roughly a year to meet the Kartik 2084 target set when the agreement was signed in Kartik 2081. Turning that around would require the issues that have plagued the project so far, from the shortage of construction materials to the slow pace of side clearance, to be resolved quickly and sustainably.
The report notes that the combination of material shortages, slow clearance work and the various disasters that struck the country has already pushed the expansion behind schedule. Unless the pace of construction picks up significantly in the remaining time, the four-lane expansion of the Butwal–Gorusinge road is set to miss the completion deadline it was given, extending the wait for a wider, modernized stretch of the East–West Highway.
Further details on the project's progress are available in the full Nepal Press report.
