Even after 25 months of the expansion of the Kakadbhitta-Laukahi road, the progress has not even reached 40 percent. Overall, the construction progress is only 32 percent. It has been contracted in three packages for the road and two packages for the bridge. But there is no progress as expected in both the road and the bridge. 

After a long time since the start of construction, the work of moving electricity poles and removing drinking water pipes is finally underway. The planning offices of both sections have given the road blacktop work as the first priority. The total distance of the Kakadbhitta-Labipur section is 95.76 kilometers. 

The contract for all sections has been signed with the loan assistance of the Asian Development Bank (ADB). The 45-km section from Kakadbhitta to Sitapuri in Jhapa falls under the first package. The contract for which has been taken by Evrascan-Kalika JV. Evrascan is an Azerbaijani company. The contract amount for this section is 10.694 billion rupees. The contract agreement for all sections, including the road and bridge, was signed on 2 Kartik 2080. However, the construction order was given on 19 Magh 2080 (2 February 2024). The planning office has stated that the time period will be calculated from the date the order was given. Sunil Babu Pant, Chief of the Kakadbhitta-Laukahi Road Project, Eastern Section, Damak, said that the construction progress on the road side is 37 percent so far. 

‘Currently, the first level of blacktop work is underway, of which 3,255 meters on the left side of the road, 1,360 meters on the right side, and 4,595 meters of road on both sides have been blacktopped,’ Pant said, ‘Work is underway at all the places where the contract was signed.’ He said that the work on laying the base, sub-base, culvert, bridge and blacktop is ongoing on the road side. The contract for the Ninda, Biring and Kankai bridges falls under package number four. This falls within the Kakadbhitta-Sitapuri road section. The contract for this has been jointly awarded by the Kovech-CREGC-Tundi company. The contract amount for this bridge is Rs 5.97 billion 85 million. Its overall progress is only 25 percent. Under this, a large and 300-meter long bridge is being constructed. 

‘The trust materials used in the bridge are coming from China, the progress of the bridge construction will increase after that,’ said Panta, ‘Currently, concrete work is being done on the bridge.’ He said that the work has been affected due to Holi and elections in the last one week. ‘The target is to complete the first layer of blacktop on 30 km of the road within the current fiscal year,’ he said, ‘The main work is being completed within the stipulated time.’ Panta said that the blacktop work will be given top priority and there will be no problem in vehicle operation. 

The second package includes the expansion of the road from Sitapuri to Gothgaun in Morang. The contract for this has been jointly awarded by the CRFG-Tundi company. CRFG is a Chinese company, the distance of which is 40 km. The construction progress of this section is 38 percent, said Jagat Prajapati, Planning Chief of Kakadbhitta-Laukahi Road Project, West Section, Itahari. The contract amount of this section is 9 billion 138.2 million rupees. 

‘Due to Holi and elections, the work was affected for some time,’ Prajapati said, ‘All the work that was stopped has started from Monday.’ The work of blacktopping the first level of this section has been completed for 15 km. The work of the superstructure of the small bridge in this section has been completed. The planning office says that the goal is to reach 60 percent progress of this section by Asad. 

As for the third package, the distance of the road from Gothgaun to Labipur in Sunsari is 10.76 km. The contract for this section has been jointly won by three companies, Kovech-CREGC-Tundi Company for 4 billion 73.5 million rupees. Covec and CREGC are Chinese companies. The progress of this section is only 18 percent. 

‘The progress is slow, preparations are underway to start the blacktop work,’ Prajapati said, ‘This section includes a lot of urban areas, there has been a problem because the electricity poles have not been moved. The work of moving them is currently underway.’ Out of 650 poles on the road section, only 200 poles have been moved. There is also a delay in moving the drinking water pipes. ‘The slow progress of the work is due to the failure to move the electricity poles on time, even now the work of moving the poles has not been completed by more than 30 percent, the work of moving them is under the Nepal Electricity Authority, there is a separate contract from the authority for this,’ Prajapati said, ‘There is a compulsion to move the drinking water pipes as they burst, we are doing this work.’ 

Prajapati claims that the delay is due to the contracting body in some places, while in some places it is due to the authority and the drinking water. The problem is that the construction business has not mobilized enough manpower and resources in the third package. He claims that the pace of work has not been increased as promised despite not receiving river-based construction materials on time. ‘Now, construction materials are gradually becoming easier,’ he said. 

Package number five includes the construction of Ratuwa, Bakraha and Lohendra bridges. The contract for the construction of these bridges has been jointly awarded by Kovech-CREGC-Tundi JV for Rs 5.65 billion. 26 million. Its construction progress is only 29 percent so far. The bridge construction falls under the Sitapuri-Gothgaun road section.