Only 20% progress of Nagadhunga-Naubise road section, 26% of Naubise-Malekhu and Malekhu-Muglin road sections.
Kathmandu-Nagadhunga-Muglin road has been divided into three sections, but the construction speed is slow. More than 15,000 vehicles, small and large, travel on this road section every day. At present, the road has been partially closed and the upgrading work has been carried out.
From December 7 to 13, road widening is being done by stopping the traffic from 11 am to 2 pm by cutting difficult hills and improving curves, according to the project. Even though the work of upgrading has been carried forward in such a way that the traffic is affected, the progress of the work is low.
The work of upgrading the road from Kathmandu to Muglin is being done in three packages. Concessional loans have been taken from the World Bank for the contract of all the three packages. The first package is Nagadhunga-Naubise section, which has a distance of 12.26 km. A contract agreement 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. According to the
contract, the work should have been completed by June 27, 2081. But after the work was not completed within the said time, the deadline was extended till January 2081. The progress so far is only 62 percent. Keshav Prasad Ojha, Head of Nagadhunga-Muglin Road Scheme, Eastern Section, said that they are reviewing the construction progress on a monthly basis and are pressuring the builders to speed up the work accordingly.
"The period of the first section is about to expire, the process will proceed only after the consultant gives a report on whether or not to extend the period," Ojha said.
"General support and wall work is being done in some places," he said, "So far, 5 and a half kilometers of the first level road has been paved. Preparations are being made for the second level." "The work of blackboard up to the third level is done," said Ojha, "The blackboard of the first level is thicker, so it is done accordingly." In the first section, the work of hill cutting and rolling improvement is being done. 2 concrete bridges are also being constructed in this section.
The second package is Naubise-Malekhu section, which has a distance of 43.54 km. JICG-Sharma-Lama JV has taken its contract for 5.33 billion rupees. The work of this section, which was signed on May 14, 2079, should be completed by June 27, 2082. But so far the physical progress is only 26 percent.
'The deadline for this section is still there, a lot of work will be done during that period,' Ojha said, 'It took time to remove the electricity poles and roofs in this section, due to the incessant rains last October, there was a problem with landslides, so the progress was somewhat reduced. Yes.''Culverts, retaining walls are currently being constructed in this section. He told that it was sloped in the place of slope.
"The black sheet work has not started in this section," Ojha said, "Graveling and base making work is being done for that." A two-lane road will be built from Nagadhunga to Muglin. The market area road will have four lanes.
"When coming from Malekhu towards Kathmandu, a 'climbing' lane will be made at a place that will be convenient, then a three-lane road will be built at that place," he said, "by doing this, the traffic going uphill will be less out of 13 in this section." Three concrete bridges have been constructed. Other bridges are under construction.
The section from Malekhu to Muglin is placed in the third package. The contract of this section was taken by Sharma-JICG for 4 billion 800 million 59 lakh rupees. The contract agreement for this road section of 38.86 km was signed on 15th December 2079. According to the agreement, the work of this section should be completed by December 15, 2082, but the progress so far is only 20 percent.
Head of Nagdhunga-Muglin Road Project, West Section Kedar Prasad Nepal said that the pace of work is slow. "The speed of the work has not increased," he said, "we are guiding the construction professionals to be able to work within the specified time."
Nepal says that the work has been affected due to the damage in many places in this section due to the floods and landslides that occurred last October. "At that time, there was a big landslide in 6 places, out of which 100 meters of road were buried in Krishnabhir," he said Only the concrete bridge is being constructed.
Due to the compensation on the Hugdi river, the construction work of the bridge could not proceed on time. Now the process of construction is being carried forward. "The work of construction of support wall and drain is going on," he said, "base and sub-base for the Kurintar section have been done." He said that the vehicle was partially stopped because of the risk.
