Of the 113 kilometers of roads that have been expanded, 82.466 kilometers of four-lane roads and 19.34 kilometers of two-lane roads have been blacktopped so far.
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It has been almost seven years since the Narayangadh-Butwal road expansion began, but the work is still not complete. Due to the lack of timely construction of the road, commuters have to face mud and dust all the time, be it winter or rainy season. Currently, such problems are more prevalent in Daun. Although blacktop has been completed in many places, problems ranging from traffic jams to mud and dust persist in Daun.
Out of the 113 kilometers of road that has been expanded, 82.466 km of four-lane and 19.34 km of two-lane roads have been blacktopped, the project has said. Out of 64 bridges, 58 and 468 culverts, 456 have been constructed.
Although there were problems in the initial days, there will be no problems on the road in the coming monsoon as much work has been done now, says Chudaraj Dhakal, project chief of the Project Directorate (ADB). ‘Initially, there were many problems on this road, passengers and drivers had to suffer a lot,’ he said, ‘Now there is only a problem on Daunne.’
Apart from Daunne, work on the Arun Khola and Chormara bridges is still pending. Dhakal said that the work on that bridge has also reached the completion stage. ‘Out of 14 km of Daunne, 3 km has been blacktopped, 3 km has been sloped from both sides,’ he said, ‘The remaining 8 km have been asked to be sloped.’ Even though the construction contractor asked for slope on the remaining four km of the road, the project has asked for it to be blacktopped.
‘Initially, slopes were made in places on Daunne,’ Dhakal said, ‘At that time, slopes were made after blacktopping was not durable.’ Although it was said that all roads would be blacktopped during the design, he said that an international consultant suggested sloped roads because there was a risk of problems later if blacktopped on the Daunne section.
‘There are many bends in Daunne, it is geographically complex and there is also a problem of water leaking from places,’ he said, ‘That is why it was decided that sloped roads are the best option. Accordingly, sloped roads have been made only in some sections.’ Dhakal said that sloped roads were not allowed in all sections due to cost and lack of budget. The project says that the delay in construction has been due to the contractor so far.
The project office has been backing down by warning that it will terminate the contract when the contractor fails to complete the work on time. In the first week of Asoj 2079, the project had issued a one-month notice and warned that it would terminate the contract when the contractor did not make progress in the work. The project backed down from terminating the contract after the contractor promised to complete the work soon. For the second time, the project issued an NTC (Notice to Correct) notice through the consultant, warning that the contract would be terminated if the work was not completed within the specified time.
The NTC states that 70 percent of the work on one side should be completed by December 2024 and that at least one side should be completely completed and the transport vehicles should be plying by March 2025. Accordingly, this progress should have been achieved by Falgun-Chait 2081. So far, the construction progress is only 74 percent. ‘It takes time to break and make a new contract, and the cost increases again,’ said Dhakal, ‘We have been pressuring the construction contractors to complete the work in any way possible, and the work is being done accordingly now, and now it will be completed.’
The contract for the Narayangadh-Butwal road expansion was awarded to China State Construction Engineering Corporation. After the company delayed the work, the project office initially pressured its central office to complete the work quickly. The Department of Roads has stated that the construction contractors have now moved ahead with the work accordingly.
After the road is built, the construction contractors will do the maintenance work for five years. ‘After such rules are in place, the construction contractors will do quality work,’ said Dhakal. The contract agreement was signed on 8 Chaitra 2075 to complete the work by 22 Shrawan 2079. It has been divided into two parts and the contract has been awarded. After the work was not completed on time, the deadline was extended for the second time until 8 Shrawan 2081.
After the work was not completed during this period, the deadline was extended for the third time in last Shrawan till 8 Shrawan 2082. After the work was not completed during this period, the deadline was extended for the fourth time until 24 Asad 2083. The project office claims that the work will be completed within this time. The contract was signed with the loan assistance of the Asian Development Bank (ADB). The contract amount is 16 billion 995.2 million 96 thousand rupees in two parts.
