The work on the national pride project, the Postal Highway, has not been completed even after 16 years. In all these years since the construction began, its progress has been only 74.35 percent. The construction of the highway was taken forward from the financial year 2066/67 as per the concept of connecting the area from Kechanakawal in Jhapa to Dodhara Chandani in Kanchanpur in the west. In the past decade and a half, the issue of highway construction has been on the election agenda of several parties several times. But it is still not in the stage of completion. Even now, candidates from various districts have put it forward as an election slogan.

The project, which was started to benefit about 10 million people from 21 districts of Tarai-Madhesh, has not progressed either due to budget constraints or delays in policy decisions. Analyst Chandra Kishore says that the Postal Highway has shortened the travel distance in inner Madhesh. He says that it is sad that the parties are not serious about completing this highway on time, despite the possibility of it becoming a path for the emotional integration of Nepali society. "This will ease the dependence on going abroad (to India) for education, health and market in Madhesh," he says. "The Mid-Hill Highway was considered the backbone of national unity. But unfortunately, the political parties did not show any intention to build the Postal Highway."

The manifestos released by various parties in the 2070, 2074 and 2079 elections mentioned the completion of the Postal Highway, a national pride, but the construction has not been completed yet. Currently, the entire project is stuck in the budget shortage and how to award new contracts for broken contracts. The contract agreement for the Kankai Bridge in Jhapa was terminated on November 11 after there was no progress in the work under the Postal Highway Directorate for 14 years. Although this bridge was supposed to be an election agenda, the contract was terminated after no work was done in the end. After that, the process for a new contract has not been able to move forward. According to the contract agreement signed on June 31, 2068, the bridge should have been built on June 30, 2072. At that time, the cost was estimated at Rs 349 million. When the deadline was extended for the fifth time, 60 percent of the progress was not achieved. The contract was jointly taken by Pappu-Mahadev Khimti (JV).

Immediately after the contract was terminated, the construction company filed a writ petition in the Supreme Court seeking an interim order. But the court did not grant an interim order. The project office is confused about how to award the contract for the bridge. Postal Highways Directorate Director Kuber Nepali says that a solution is being sought for this bridge. ‘The bridge work was 60 percent complete, a decision will be made on how much work to award the contract after evaluating the work done by the previous construction contractor,’ Nepali said. ‘Only after it is determined that there is no risk in the old and completed work, will another construction contractor take the contract. Only when we can say that we will take the risk of the underground work, will a new contract be awarded, otherwise the construction contractors have been reluctant to take the contract.’

Nepali said that a study will be conducted to determine how many structures are correct and how many new structures should be built. He says that the company to conduct the study will be selected by April. Nepali said that there is no problem in moving forward with further work as the court has not issued an interim order. ‘We were trying to move forward with the river control work,’ he said, ‘It has been stopped due to the bridge, and the failure to manage the broken contracts in a timely manner has had an impact on the overall project.’

The Kamala River Bridge connecting Siraha-Dhanusha along the Postal Highway has also not been completed even after 14 years since its construction began. Its contract agreement was signed on 31 Jestha 2068. According to the initial agreement, the work should be completed by 30 Mangsir 2071. The deadline has been set to complete the work by 30 Chaitra 2082. So far, the construction progress is 83 percent. Its contract amount is Rs 249 million. 

Since the contract is under the design and build contract, the company that is awarded the contract should design and construct it. The company that is awarded the contract is Pappu-Lumbini JV. When the construction was completed and handed over, a problem arose when the flood on 17 Ashad 2078 caused the collapse of two foundations of the bridge. If the bridge is not built on time, the locals of this area are forced to suffer daily in Ohardohar. The project claims that the bridge work will be completed by Asad.

Road construction work has not yet progressed in some places. The overall distance of this project is 1,857 kilometers. So far, 1,380 kilometers have been blacktopped. Similarly, out of the 300 bridges to be built, only 153 have been completed. Everything has been completed, but the contract management for 150.90 km of roads and 69 bridges is yet to be completed. The project has said that the outline of where to build the highway in some sections is yet to be finalized.

The distance of the east-west 975 km and the north-south road connecting the highway is 882 km. When the project was started, the completion date was set for the fiscal year 2074/75. Now the time has been revised to 2083/84. 71.55 billion rupees have been spent since the project started. The initial cost estimate of the project was 47 billion rupees. Later, it was revised to Rs 65.2 billion and now it has been made at Rs 101.93 billion.

‘The Hulaki Highway is in the process of being completed, this year the source agreement has not been reached yet, according to the multi-year standards of the Ministry of Finance, it should be submitted to the National Planning Commission by mid-Poush, the commission should send the Ministry of Finance by 15 Magh and give source agreement,’ Nepali said, ‘Currently, there is an obligation of Rs 10.5 billion, now we need Rs 27 billion to complete all the work.’

Currently, road contracts are yet to be awarded in the Chitwan National Park area, Kapilvastu and the forest area on the border of Dang. Road sections and bridges in the forest area on the border of Dang and Banke are yet to be awarded. New contracts are yet to be awarded for the Ratuwa-Keshaliya, Inaruwa-Kaptanganj in Morang, Mohan-River-Dokebazar-Belauri-Beldangi roads in Kanchanpur, Kankai in Jhapa and the Patri Khola bridge in Chitwan.

‘If we had received the source agreement to contract for the new road and bridge, the work would have been done, but since the agreement has not been received yet, the work will not be done this year,’ Nepali said, ‘There is no budget arrangement.’ He said that since the road has been built with two lanes, the bridge is single lane, so the work of making it two lanes is still pending. ‘We need a plan and source agreement on how to do the remaining work. It has been said that it will be completed in 2083/84, the distance of the road that needs to be constructed after preparing technical drawings is 250 km,’ he said, ‘If this situation continues and sufficient resources are provided, it will take three to five years to complete the remaining work.’

Initially, construction contractors and consultants from there had come to work on the project run by the Indian government. But after the Indian construction contractors left, the structure was changed. This is the reason for some delay in the construction, according to the Postal Highways Directorate. 

An MoU was signed between the Government of Nepal and the Government of India in 2016 to construct the remaining 17 roads, or 518 km, in the first phase under the Indian grant. A MoU was signed between the Roads Department and the Indian consultant National Highways and Infrastructure Development Limited to supervise the construction of 10 of these roads (305 km).

The work was carried out with the assistance of 5.528 billion rupees from the Indian grant from the fiscal year 2066/67 to 2076/77. ‘The work has been completed, 200 million rupees are yet to come from the Indian government,’ said Nepali, ‘There are 6 planning offices under the directorate, and work is being done under those offices.’

Joint Secretary and Spokesperson of the Ministry of Finance Tanka Prasad Pandey said that the work of granting multi-year resource consent has been stopped for the time being due to the election code of conduct. ‘This work will be done after the elections, discussions are underway to provide more time for that,’ he said. He said that the ministry has given special priority to projects of national pride and that the file for a multi-year resource agreement on the postal highway has not been received by the ministry from the national plan.