Road construction, expansion and upgrading works are being carried out in full swing not only for national pride, but also for major highways and auxiliary highways all over the country. In most of the plans, there is a problem of not completing the work on time. Despite several extensions, the progress of the work is slow. Here we have researched the problems and the state of progress in the expansion and upgrading of various road sections of the country.

It has been 6 years since Narayangadh-Butwal road expansion started. So far, construction progress has not reached 60 percent. During this period, the progress is barely 57.5 percent . According to the contract agreement in March 2075, its work should have been completed within July 2079. Even after extending the deadline for the third time, the progress is not satisfactory . The builders did not work for a long time after the contract. 

In the meantime, due to the lack of construction materials and covid-19, the deadline was extended for the first time until July 11, 2080. The work was not finished even within that time . For the second time, the deadline was extended until July 8, 2081, and the work was not completed. Now the deadline has been extended for the third time till July 8, 2082.

Project Directorate (ADB) has informed that the speed of the work has increased since then. Chudaraj Dhakal, project director of the Directorate of Projects (ADB), said that although all the work could not be completed before the rainy season, even if the one-way road has been paved, the construction business is being advised to facilitate the traffic.

"In the early days, due to lack of construction materials, cutting of trees, delay in moving electric poles, the work could not speed up," Dhakal said, "Later, the businessmen continued to hesitate in the work saying that there was a loss when the contract was taken at a low bid, after they wrote letters repeatedly to pressure them to complete the work, but they did not do so, the work was speeded up only after the attention was drawn to the main office of the construction businessmen from the ministry level.' 

He claims that the speed of work has increased due to managing the money from the main office of the construction company. The road with a distance of 113 km has been divided into two sections and contracted. The contract was awarded to China State Construction Engineering Corporation . By dividing it into two parts, the contract amount is 16 billion 99 million 52 lakh 96 thousand rupees.

'smoke, dust  And we understand that there is a problem with traffic jams,' said Dhakal, 'Understanding all these things, we are pressing to complete the work quickly.'

After the completion of the construction work, the businessmen who take the contract will have to do the road maintenance work. The project claims that the work will be completed within the next year and a half. Due to this road, the passengers and drivers have to suffer daily commute. The problem of dust in winter and mud in winter is not insurmountable. 

According to Dhakal, the single-layered tarpaulin has been laid for 59 km and the double-layer tarpaulin for 19 km in East Gandakot section. "Now we have put more emphasis on making a one-way road with a single-layer black sheet," said Dhakal, "one-layer black sheet is 10 meters long, which will make travel easier to some extent." 

According to him, a three-lane road will be built on the lower section. A two-lane road will be built in the market area. A service lane will also be built in the market area. He claimed that a separate lane for cargo vehicles is being built in Downe Uphill, after this construction, there will be no problem in Downe for 10 years. The part beyond the south temple has been separated as the west section. While the first level of black sheet work is being done on one side of the 39 km section, he said, "Other than the southern section, construction workers are telling us that they can work before the monsoon."

is now seen in the most problematic section. Out of 140 culverts to be constructed here, 10 culverts are left to be constructed. Similarly, he said that the work of some bridges on that road section has been completed and some are under construction. 

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The total distance from Ambukhaireni to Pokhara is 80.33 km . Whose overall physical progress is 65 percent . The contract for 9 km of Mugling-Ambukhaireni (East) section is yet to be awarded . Ambukhaireni-Jamune section has 80 percent progress and Jamune-Pokhara (West) section is 44 percent . Ambukhaireni-Jamune's initial deadline was till 081 Baisakh . The deadline was extended for the second time until October. But the work was not done. The deadline was extended for the third time until February, but again the work was not completed. Now the deadline has been extended till June 16, 2082 .

The distance of the eastern section is 41.45 km and the distance of the western section is 38.88 km. "In the eastern section, 38 km of black paper work has been done, the rest will be completed within a month," said Chudaraj Dhakal, project director of the Directorate of Projects (ADB). In this section, the service lane is only one and a half km . 

"In the western section, 28 km has been paved, out of which 14 km has been one-way paved," he said, "two km of the contract has not been demolished, we will make the road section smooth one-way by June 16, 2082." are . 

Since Seti and Madi Bridge contracts have been done separately. The contract of Seti Bridge has been taken by Rasuwa Construction. Its contract amount is 1 billion 72 million rupees. So far the construction progress is 45 percent. Its length is 190 meters and two bridges of two lanes have been constructed. The contract for Madi bridge was taken by Anak-JTIEc JV. Its construction progress is 65 percent. This 390 meter long bridge will have four lanes. The contract for both the bridges was signed on July 26, 2079. It is valid till August 21, 2018.  According to Dhakal, head of the

project, out of the total distance of 80.33 km, 60.24 km will be two-lane, 20.09 km will be divided into 6/6-lane service lane with 4 lanes. According to the project, 29 bridges, 281 culverts, drains and other structures will be built.

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Another busy road is Kamala-Kanchanpur . The contract was signed on 077 October 13 to upgrade this road section . According to the contract, the construction work should be completed by November 11, 2011, but the deadline was extended to January 20, 2011. The deadline has been extended till December 16, 2082 as the work has not been completed at this time. 

The contract amount of this section of 86.82 km is 15.66 billion rupees. The China Railway No. 2 Engineering Company, which took the contract, has been delaying the work because of the cash flow problem in this section. Monthly construction progress is not even half percent. 

"They have now increased the speed of work after saying they will break the contract," said Chudaraj Dhakal, Director of Project Directorate (ADB), "54 percent progress is now". Only 40 km in the western section and 20 km in the eastern section have been paved. "If we work, we will give a deadline, we have been saying that we should work even if we suffer a loss," he said, "It is not our concern whether we make a profit or a loss after work."

From Kamala Bridge in Dhanusha to Wagmati Bridge in Sarlahi, the work has been progressed by contracting three packages under concessional loans from the World Bank.

According to Kamala-Dhalkebar-Pathalaiya road plan chief Chabilal Paudel, under the first package, there is 22.07 km from Kamalapul to Badri . Its contract was taken by EKK Infrastructure Company for 5.80 billion rupees. EKK is an Indian manufacturing company . Its construction period has been three years, which started from 081 Jan 17. 

The second package is 29.74 km from Badri to Phuljore. Its contract was jointly taken by Sansi Water Resources and Hydropower Engineering Group and Rasuwagadhi Construction. Contracted for 6 billion 43 crore rupees, its construction period is also three years .

is the third package, Phulzor-Wagmati Nazhar . Which has a distance of 22.95 km . This third package contract was also taken by the company that took the contract in the second package . The amount of this contract is 6 billion 72 crore rupees. Planning chief Paudel said that the Bagmati bridge contract is being prepared. "The work has started now," he said, "the work of moving electric poles and cutting trees has not been done, which is in the process."

From Bagmati to Pathalaiya, there is a loan agreement with the World Bank. Pathlaiya-Hetaunda-Narayangadh road is being designed under ADB. "The design is at the final stage, environmental impact assessment (EIA) work is also underway," said Dhakal, the head of the project, "the distance of the section is 140 km."

According to him, a service lane will be built with four lanes in the forest area and four lanes in the market. There will be a two-two km flyover in the forest of the park area on the highway. He said that it will make it easier for wild animals to migrate. Chitwan and Parsa Parks fall under this section. 

'We have been asking ADB to build a flyover with a grant,' he said.

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EIA of Ambukhaireni-Muglin road section has been approved by the Ministry of Forest and Environment. "The Muglin-Pokhara road will be completed within the next year and a half at the most, so it is better to keep this section in a new project than to keep it in the same plan," said Chudaraj Dhakal, director of the Directorate of Projects (ADB).

Under the Asian Highway, the road expansion and upgrading work has also progressed from Kakdavitta on the East-West Highway to Laukhikhand in Sunsari. A four-lane road will be built in the highway section and a six-lane road with a service lane in the urban area. The work has been progressed by dividing it into three sections. The construction period of all three sections including the bridge is only three years. 

ADB's loan assistance has been contracted for all segments. The 45 km section from Kakadvitta to Sitapuri in Jhapa is being worked on under a contract of 10 billion 694 million rupees.

The contract agreement for all sections, including roads and bridges, was signed on 080 October. But the construction order is 080 Jan 19  is given in The progress of this segment is 14.5 percent . The contract was taken by Evraskan-Kalika JV. Evraskan is an Azerbaijan company.

The extension contract from Sitapuri to Gothgaon in Morang was jointly taken by CRFG-Tundi company. CRFG is a Chinese company, the distance of this section is 40 km. Its construction progress so far is 16.5 percent. The contract amount of this section is 9 billion 1382 million rupees. As the third package, the distance from Gothgaon to Sunsari's Labipur is 10.76 km. The contract of this section was taken jointly by three companies KOVAK-CREGC-Tundi Company for 4.7 billion 35 million rupees. The progress of this section is only 7.5 percent so far. 

``There has been less progress because this section is a market area,'' director Dhakal said.

The complaint of not being able to work due to the fact that the site is not cleared is from the construction business. They said that due to cartelization in construction materials, there is a problem in increasing the progress of the work. 

The total distance of Kakdvitta-Labipur section is 95.76 km. "Overall, there is 15 percent progress, it should have been 20 percent by now," Dhakal said, "The working time has just started, the time for all projects is now two years."

6 big and long concrete bridges are being contracted within this road. Three bridges are being constructed by dividing them into packages number four and five. Condemnation, Biring and Kankai Bridge are included in the four-number package. Its contract was taken jointly by KOVEC-CREGC-Tundi company. The contract amount of this bridge is 5 billion 97 million 85 million. Under this, large and 300 meter long bridges will be constructed.

The five number package includes Ratuwa, Bakraha and Lohendra bridges. The contract for the construction of this bridge was taken by KOVEC-CREGC-Tundi JV for 5.65 billion 2.6 million rupees. Its progress is 8 percent. The construction of all roads and bridges should be completed by 19 Jan 083. The bridge construction of package number four falls within the Kakdavitta-Sitapuri road section. The bridge construction of package number five falls within the Sitapuri-Gothgaon road section.

This road is now two lanes. Damak, Urlabari, Itahari Bazar will have six lane roads and footpaths with service lanes. The main highway will have four lanes. According to the road department, the Asian highway has been drawn from Indonesia to Myanmar-Assam, from the eastern border of Nepal to Kankadvitta, to reach Delhi via West Gaddachouki. This four-lane highway with dividers will be 1,027 km long in Nepali geography. According to this project, the expansion of the East-West highway has been started. But the progress on the roads that have been started is very slow. The concept of the Asian Highway came into being in the 1970s. Accordingly, the work has started from Kakadvitta.

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Nagadhunga-Muglin Road has been divided into three sections, but the progress of the construction is slow. More than 15,000 vehicles, small and large, travel on this road section every day. 

The upgradation of this section has been started with a concessional loan from the World Bank . The first package is the Nagadhunga-Naubise section, which has a distance of 12.26 km. A contract was signed with Jangsu-Sagun JV for 1 billion 30 million rupees on Chait 29, 2078 for the construction of that section. The work started only on May 26, 2079 after about a year and a half of the agreement. After the work was not completed within the specified 2081 June 27, the deadline was extended until January 2081 . Again, the deadline has been extended till July 10, 2082.

Keshav Prasad Ojha, Head of Eastern Section of Nagadhunga-Muglin Road Plan, said that it has been a month since the black paper was started on this section. "There is a lack of construction materials, which has delayed the work," he said.

According to him, the progress of the first section Nagadhunga-Naubise is good. About 6 km in that section, the first level of black sheet work has been completed . He said that if there is no shortage of construction materials, the 8 km first layer of asphalt from Naubise to the mouth of the Nagadhunga Tunnel will be completed within a month. The progress of this section is 68 percent . 

The second package is Naubise-Malekhu section, which has a distance of 43.54 km. 5 billion 33 million 19 million JICG-Sharma-Lama JV has taken its contract. The work of this section, which was signed on May 14, 2079, should be completed by the end of June 2082. But so far the physical progress is only 30 percent.

"In this section, 4 km of one-way road has been blackened, there is a big problem of construction materials in this section," he said, "After discussing with the local level, district coordination committee, district administration, it has been seen that the construction materials will be somewhat easier." 

About 15,000 vehicles pass here daily. 'A lot of work is on the two-lane road. There is a problem to work because there is a lot of traffic after 8 am to 12 pm and after 4 pm,' he said, 'The work can be done from Naubise to Piplamod, which is the first package, within the specified time, above that, we have stopped it until enough construction materials are available for about 2 km.' The contract for this section was taken by Sharma-JICG for 4 billion 805 million rupees. The contract agreement for this road section of 38.86 km distance was signed on 15th January 2079. According to the contract, the work should be completed within 7th of December 2082, but the progress is only 23 percent. 

A 6-lane road of 2.2 km will be constructed in this section, which will be in Malekhu, Benighat and Muglin sections . The four-lane road will be 7.2 km. Which will cover the fun hill, Kurintar, Fisling, Chumling, Mazhimtar, Charaundi and Vishaltar . A 3-lane climbing lane will also be constructed on the uphill-downhill section, which will be 2.3 km. The rest of the road will be a dedicated two-lane Nagadhunga-Mugling road plan, West Section Engineer Sachendra Mishra said. "Currently, Kurintar has 2 km of blacktop," he said, "We have constructed 24 km of drains, and the target is to make 15 km of blacktop by the end of next June."

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Suryavinayak-Dhulikhel road is expanding into four lanes, but the construction progress is not satisfactory . In the first phase of the total 15.5 km road, work was started by contracting the Sanga to Dhulikhel section . The distance of this section is 8.3 km . The contract for that section was taken by Lama Construction on 27th November 2079 for 4 billion 564 million rupees.

Bishnu Prasad Khanal, engineer of Suryavinayak-Dhulikhel road project, said that the deadline for this section is 42 percent progressed till December 27, 2082.

The distance of Suryavinayak-Sanga section is 7.5 km . The contract for the said section was taken by Ashish/Kumar Shrestha/Bandhan Bhagwati JV on 24th December 2079 . The contract amount is 3 billion 88 million 93 million. The progress of this section is 37 percent and the deadline  2082 until December 27. . 

"Currently, structure work is being done from Sanga to Dhulikhel, two km of black paper work is being done in Dhulikhel section," he said, "Work is being done on Sanga section towards Suryavinayak." The road has been made chaotic by indiscriminate demolition. As a result, passengers and drivers have to suffer in their daily journey.' 

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It has been 7 years since the construction of the Kathmandu Terai/Madhesh Expressway (Fast Track) started. So far only 64.477 km out of 70.977 km has been contracted. The work on 6.5 km of Khokna area in Lalitpur has not yet started, due to which it is certain that the construction of the fast track will not be completed even in the extended time. If this road is built on time, Nijgarh in Bara will be reached in 1 hour. 

According to the initial agreement, the work cannot be completed within the financial year 080/81, so the deadline for the overall project has been extended to the end of March 083. The cost estimate of 1 trillion 75 billion has been revised to 2 trillion 11 billion 93 billion rupees. 67.9 billion rupees have been spent so far. Physical progress since the start of construction is only 38.26 percent . Military spokesman and assistant Rathi Gaurav Kumar KC said that the dispute over the Khokna section has not yet been resolved and if the contract is signed, it will be done in full swing.

The analysis of former secretary Arjunjung Thapa is that although road upgrading and expansion are positive in most of them, there is a budget problem. "In some places, the builders have not received the payment for the work done so far, which is causing the work to be delayed," he said.

'The budget is allocated in piecemeal plans to please their relatives, in such a situation, how can progress be made in a big project?', he said, 'Therefore, the work will not be completed unless the budget is allocated to the big road project as the first priority.'