The contract process for flood-damaged roads has been extended after 6 months. The contract has been invited for the reconstruction of the most damaged BP highway, Kanti highway, Araniko highway, Mechi highway and Thankot-Chitlang road section with a time limit of 30 days. Four packages have been made in BP Highways, out of which the process has been initiated by calling for contracts for three.

A contract has been made for one package in Sindhuli and three packages towards Kavre. On February 28, a contract was awarded for the five-kilometer section of Nepalthok-Barkhekhola towards Sindhuli. The contract for the 8.5 km section from Dalabensi to Char Saibensi in Kavre section was signed on Chait 5 last year.

Suman Yogesh, head of road division Bhaktapur, said that the contract was invited on Chait 7 for the 11 km section of Bhakundebensi from Char Saybensi. The cost estimate for the approximately 3.5 km section from Dalabensi to Barkhekhola has been finalised. Ramhari Pokharel, director general of the road department, says that it is positive that the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) will work on that section. 

Kavre and Sindhuli section will be constructed in 28 km according to two lane standard. Currently, temporary maintenance work is being done on the BP highway in view of the coming monsoon. For the permanent construction and maintenance of the BP highway, Rs 8.5 billion was demanded through Road Division Bhaktapur and Khurkot. According to this, 7.5 billion rupees have been provided to Bhaktapur section and 1 billion rupees to Khurkot section.

Another road that has been heavily damaged by the flood is the Kanti Highway. This highway suffered major damage due to the floods that occurred last October. Half of the Bagua bridge connecting Lalitpur-Hetaunda was swept away. The road was blocked due to landslides in more than two dozen places towards Lalitpur alone.

The road has been narrowed due to a landslide. The landslide on the road has not been removed yet. As much as the landslides have been removed, the means of transport have been operated. Rain is approaching again. Ratnalakshmi Bajracharya, the head of the Kanti Highway Road Planning Office, said that the contract has been called for work before the coming monsoon, if there is a risk of floods.

'We have made two packages towards Lalitpur and one towards Makwanpur,' she said, 'before last March 8, the contract has been signed to improve 35 km towards Makwanpur and three towards Lalitpur.' The contract has been awarded for major landslide management in Bhainse, Birkhedhara and Tinpane sections of Lalitpur. "We will install gabions, walls, and mechanically stabilized earth (MSE) walls to manage landslides," she said. She said that there is a plan to do the landslide management work in all these three sections before the rainy season. No more than one year will be given for landslide management. Bajracharya says that in case of other contracts, it will be for two years. According to Bajracharya, resource consent of 2.52 billion rupees has been obtained for the permanent construction of this highway.

This road section has already been contracted for 6 km under the multi-year contract. "Apart from the 6 km, we will contract the 22 km section separately," said Bajracharya. The concrete bridge of Baguwa was half swept away by flood and connected to Belibijr. He claims that now in view of the drought, the work of Beilibridge has been contracted and the work will be completed by the end of May. The distance from Satdobato in Lalitpur to Buddhachowk in Hetaunda is 91 km.

The contract was invited on March 11 to construct a two-lane road on 3 km of the Thankot-Chitlang road section, said Narayanadatta Bhandari, the head of Road Division Kathmandu. "One section has already been contracted about a month and a half ago, its distance is two and a half km," he said.

Pawan Bhattarai, Head of Road Division Ilam, said that some sections of the Mechi highway that were damaged by the flood last October had been awarded contracts in January and January. "We awarded the contract for the Ramite section of the Mechi highway in August, 60 percent of the work has been completed so far," he said. Another problematic section is Hewa river. 

"In the said section, the contract was also started last January, 25 percent of the work has been completed," he said. In this section, a retaining wall will be constructed, the road will be improved, and the road will be widened. He said that the landslide control work of Mykhola section is also included in this contract. 

Floods damaged three sections of the Mechi highway. The road was blocked for four days at Maikhola, seven days at Ramite Danda and 11 days due to Hewa river. "From Jorkalash to Harkte, 15 km will be paved," he said, "only one km of gravel will be done in the Mykhola section." Amit Kumar Shrestha, Head of Road Division Charikot, said that the contract has been completed for the section except the area damaged by the landslide on this highway. 

'The contract for the landslide management section is yet to be awarded,' he said, 'the contract for the other two sections has been awarded.' "It has been a week since the contract for the Bandeu-Bahrbise section was signed," he said, "The contract for the Barhbise-Liping section was signed on Friday." All contracts have a duration of 30 days. 

Arjun Prasad Aryal, spokesman and deputy director general of the road department, said that contracts are being invited for the reconstruction of flood-damaged highways. "Currently, the contract process for the concrete bridge has not started, the bridge will not be built before the monsoon and the work has been progressed with the contract to install the belay bridge in the problem areas," he said, "The contract for the roads will be completed by March." 

The roads damaged by the rains include Arnico Highway, Mechi Highway, Biblante-Maipokhari-Sandakpur Road, Kanti Highway, Charikot-Singti Road, Siddharth Highway, Khurkot-Milti and Tamakoshi-Milti Road. Alternative roads include Bhakundebensi-Timal-Sinduretar in Kavre, Kirnetar-Jaffe in Dolakha and Thankot-Chitlang.

The road department had asked the finance ministry for resource consent with an estimate of 18 billion 882 million rupees for the reconstruction of roads and bridges. 15 billion 83 million 10 million for highways, 1 billion 90 million 10 million for bridges and 1 billion 15 million for alternative roads were demanded from the government. Funds are requested for the permanent construction and maintenance of 10 highways, 13 bridges and 3 roads. Contract management work has been started after Artha has given resource consent.

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Contract awarded for these roads

BP highway Nepalthok-Barkhekhola 5 km (Sindhuli section), Dalabensi-Char Saybensi 8.5 km, Char Saybensi-Bhakundebensi 11 km