Six years after the 7.6-magnitude earthquake struck the country on April 25 of 2015, reducing Dharara to rubbles, Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli is scheduled to inaugurate the newly rebuilt historic Dharahara on Saturday.

It took 31 months to complete the reconstruction of the 22-storey, 83-meter-high tower.

Nepal-China joint venture companies were entrusted with completing the project, which kicked off on October 6, 2018 aiming to complete it by October 6, 2020. However, due to various reasons, the deadline was extended to June, 2021, and then to December 25, 2021.

As of now, the reconstruction project, of which Dharahara Tower is the main project, has neared 60 per cent completion. Raman Construction was awarded the contract for an estimated cost of Rs. 3.48 billion, out of which Rs. 2.12 billion has been spent so far.

Two elevators have been installed in the tower, but visitors can use traditional staircase with 380 steps to climb to the top or descend to the bottom, said Raju Man Manandhar, an expert with National Reconstruction Authority (NRA).

A 320-kg, 25-foot-high pinnacle made of brass has also been put at the top, and around 95- kg gold and 300-kg silver were used for coating the pinnacle, he added