The Nagdhunga-Muglin road, which is a 'lifeline' connecting the capital, is nearing completion in some places and is being delayed in others due to lack of construction materials. More than 12,000 vehicles ply this road daily, but the road upgrade work has not picked up speed.
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The 94.66-kilometer road from Nagdhunga to Muglin is currently being upgraded. The work on this, which is a 'lifeline' connecting the capital, is either nearing completion or is being delayed due to lack of construction materials. More than 12,000 vehicles ply this road daily, but the road upgrade work has not picked up speed.
The Nagdhunga-Muglin road is being upgraded by dividing it into three sections. The first section of the three is Nagdhunga-Naubise. The first-level blacktop work on this section has been completed and the second-level is underway, said Keshav Prasad Ojha, head of the Nagdhunga-Mugling Road Project Eastern Section.
‘Even if the entire contract is not completed in the current fiscal year, there is a plan to complete the blacktop work,’ he said, ‘8 kilometers of the second-level blacktop in the first section has been blacktopped.’ The total distance of this section is 12.26 km. He said that the third-level blacktop work will begin as soon as the second-level blacktop work is completed. The overall physical progress of this section is 80 percent.
‘80 percent of the work has been completed in the first section, earlier it was said to be 84 percent progress, later work was added to the Jhaple Khola,’ he said, ‘That is why the progress has slowed down as the overall construction size has increased.’ The second-level blacktop is being carried out from Khatripauwa to the mouth of the Nagdhunga-Sisnekhola tunnel route. The second-level blacktop work has been completed from Naubise to Khatripauwa.
‘We will work without closing the road from Khatripauwa to Piplabatmod,’ he said, ‘Since there is a narrow section from there to Nagdhunga, discussions are underway to close the road for some time.’ He then said that it will not take much time to complete the third-level blacktop work. Now, only three and a half km of the second-level blacktop remains to be done in the first section.
The contract for the upgradation of the first section has been won by Jangsu-Sagun JV for Rs 1.3 billion. A disabled-friendly sky bridge is being built for pedestrians in the Khanikhola of this section. One hundred meters of the Jhaple Khola and 50 meters of the section where the traffic police check is to be blacktopped remain to be completed. The work of special slope stabilization (landslide control) in the Jhaple Khola has reached the final stage.
The contract agreement for this section was signed on Chaitra 29, 2078. The work started only on Jestha 26, 2079, about a year and a half after the agreement. After the work was not completed by Jestha 27, 2081, the deadline was extended to Magh 2081, but the work was not completed. After the time was extended again to Shrawan 10, 2082, the deadline was extended to mid-Falgun. Chief Ojha claims that the blacktop work in the first section will be completed by this time.
The second section is the Naubise-Malekhu section. Its distance is 43.54 km. Work is underway to build a retaining wall in the remaining areas in this section, said Chief Ojha. ‘The work of demolishing the old blacktop and laying the base and graveling is underway,’ he said, ‘The first layer of blacktop was blacktopped on 15 km of the road before Asar, now 28.54 km is left, the blacktop work on that distance will be completed within the current fiscal year.’
He said that there were problems in some sections due to litigation. ‘In this section, 4 km of the second layer of road has also been blacktopped,’ he said, ‘The construction of 9 out of 13 bridges has been completed.’ Its overall progress is 46 percent. The deadline for which has been extended to Asoj 2083. ‘The plan is to complete the blacktop work by this time, last year there was a problem with construction materials,’ he said, ‘now there is no such problem.’
The problem of electricity poles in this section remains. ‘The Electricity Authority has been very slow in moving the electricity poles in the Naubise-Mahadevbensi and Adamghat-Malekhu sections,’ said an engineer from the planning office, ‘which has caused problems in working in that area.’ The contract for this section was won by ZICG-Sharma-Lama JV for Rs 5.33 billion. 19 million. The work on this section, which was awarded a contract on April 14, 2079, was supposed to be completed by mid-June 2082, but it was not completed and the deadline was extended.
It falls in the third section, Malekhu-Muglin. The progress of this section is very low. The construction work has not gained momentum. The distance of this section is 38.86 km and the construction progress is only 35 percent. Sharma-ZICG has taken the contract for Rs 4.80 billion 5.9 million. As per the agreement signed on 15 Paush 2079, the work should be completed by 2082 Paush. The problem is increasing the progress of the work due to the shortage of construction materials, said Sajna Adhikari, head of the Nagdhunga-Muglin Road Project, West Section.
‘Currently, there is only enough construction materials for the 5 km section, work is being done to procure more, but there is a problem,’ she said, ‘An environmental impact assessment (EIA) was conducted to extract construction materials from Lamabagar in Malekhu, but construction materials have not been extracted from there.’ Due to this, she complains that progress has not been increased due to the shortage of construction materials. She says that preparations are being made to extract construction materials as the flow of the river decreases and discussions are being held with the concerned local municipalities for this.
So far, 8.1 km of four-lane roads have been blacktopped in this section. ‘Due to the geographical conditions, two, three and four-lane roads are being built in this section,’ she said. ‘So far, more blacktopping has been done in the market sections including Benighat, Fisling, Kurintar.’
The Planning Office has a target of blacktopping 20 km of the 38.86 km road in the current fiscal year. The construction of four of the six bridges has been completed. ‘The deadline for this section is ending in December,’ she said. ‘As the work is not complete, the construction businessmen have demanded an extension of the deadline, this is under discussion.’ She said that preparations are underway to start the work of the second level of blacktopping within a week.
‘During the Gen-G movement, the asphalt plant and crusher in this section were damaged,’ she said, ‘It took three months to bring technicians from India to repair it, and the repair work is in its final stages.’ She said that this has also caused delays in the work.
