Construction of the famous public shelter Kasthamandap has been ongoing for quite some time now and currently workers are busy laying out wooden plates in the structure’s roofs.
Until the first week of July, almost 85 per cent of the construction has been completed on the three-storied historic shelter of Basantapur. Furthermore, the roofing work will also soon be finished once the traditional bricks are placed using mud.
Reduced to rubbles in the devastating 2015 earthquake, the Kashtamandap will finally be restored to its original form once the pinnacle is installed at the top of the third story, said Gautam Dongol, secretary of the Kasthamandap Reconstruction Committee (KRC).
The final 427.65 cubic feet timbers arrived in Kathmandu on July 4. In the last three years, the committee has brought about 9228.10 cubic feet of timbers in 24 installments.
With the arrival of final phase of timber, the reconstruction project finally has all the required materials it needs to build the historic site. “Our target is to complete Kasthamandap before the Dashain festival,” added Dongol.
The committee estimated that reconstruction works will be complete in fewer amounts than estimated budget in between Rs. 130 million to Rs.150 million. The estimated budget of committee is Rs. 120, million. However, it has invested Rs. 115 million of budget so far.
So far, the committee has spent Rs. 115 million of the initial budgets of Rs. 120 million. As of now, the committee estimates that the entire project will cost somewhere between Rs. 130 to Rs 150 million by the time the entire structure is built.
Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC) had provided Rs. 10 million for the reconstruction of the wooden shelter in the current fiscal year.
The KMC had allocated Rs. 5 million in the beginning phase of the Kasthamandap reconstruction project, which began in May, 2018. So far, KMC has provided Rs.115 million of the budget to the committee.
The major works of three-storied shelter has completed with only the minor wood works remaining.
In recent days, around 20 to 25 labourers have been working at the reconstruction site and the old Hanumandhoka Police Circle of Hanumandhoka to rebuild the seventh century monument, he further said.
Source : TRN,
