Raman Construction and China's Guangdong-Union JV won the contract for the civil work under the second phase of the national pride Bheri-Babai Diversion Multipurpose Project in July 2076. They have taken over the construction for four years at a cost of Rs 6.165 billion. However, after the work was not completed, the deadline was extended for the second time in Mangsir 2080 for one year, and the third time in Bhadra for 7 months. Even though the third deadline expired last Friday (Chait 20), it has barely made 57 percent physical progress. The company, which has completed 47 percent of the financial work, has requested for a fourth extension.

The contractor company will have to construct a dam with 6 gates on the Bheri River and a power power house at Hattikhal on the civil side. The company requested an extension of the deadline for about 3 years and 4 months (1,209 days) in the last week of Falgun, said project director Haridatta Poudel.

‘The company initially cited the Corona pandemic as the reason, later it was said to be a shortage of construction materials, and the work could not accelerate as the design estimate we gave changed from time to time,’ he said, ‘In the latter phase, its work is satisfactory, we are preparing a file for extension of the deadline.’ He informed that there is no option to extend the deadline as it would take time to break the contract and start a new process.

Currently, three works are being carried out in the project, namely civil, electrical and hydro-electrical. For which Rs 1.75 billion has been allocated this year. A few months ago, the project called a representative of its partner Chinese company Guangdong-Union Company after Raman was unable to complete the civil works on time. He said that the deadline had to be extended because the representatives of the company responded positively saying that both would work together.

Hari Bahadur Thapa, the project's information officer, said that there was some delay in the work even after the consultant company changed. 'An Iranian consultant company had taken over the responsibility, but after the US imposed international sanctions on Iran, the contract with the company had to be terminated,' he said. 'It took about 4/5 months to appoint another consultant, which also delayed the work.' NEA Engineering Company is currently working as a consultant on the project. This company is under the Nepal Electricity Authority.

The contract for the civil structure work including the dam and power house at Sunkoshi Marina was terminated with Raman Construction last October in another multi-purpose project of national pride. ‘Even after the contract was cancelled, the contractor company faced problems in mobilization,’ said an engineer of the project, ‘There have also been some problems in the construction due to the increase in the flow of the Bheri River during the rainy season.’ Hikmat Lamsal, representative of Raman Construction, said that there have been some delays in the construction due to the Corona pandemic, shortage of construction materials, renewal of insurance, bank guarantees, etc. after the extension of the deadline, changes in the flow of water in the river, repeated changes in the design schedule, and not receiving the design on time.

The work of the second and third phases of the Bheri Babai Multipurpose Project, whose first phase (tunnel construction) was completed almost a year ahead of schedule, has been delayed. The work of the project was stopped for about a month due to Dashain-Tihar and other reasons. Bheriganga Municipality Mayor Yagya Prasad Dhakal said that the work has slowed down due to the lack of technicians and workers at the construction site. ‘The government has allocated a budget, but there is not much work pressure at the project site,’ he said, ‘If the project is completed, it will greatly help the development of Karnali, so it is necessary to do everything in time.’

The project, which was supposed to start from the fiscal year 2068/69, was started only from 2071/072. The deadline for the project has been extended until the fiscal year 2084/85. Under the project, the second and third phases, including dam and powerhouse construction, hydro-mechanical, electro-mechanical installation and construction, are currently underway. Similarly, information officer Thapa said that work on the construction of headbox, foundation, cofferdam, anchor block, etc. is also underway. Along with the dam work in Chiple, he said that the foundation of the power house is also being dug in Hattikhal on the Babai side.

Only about 69 percent of the physical progress has been made in the overall project so far. Information Officer Thapa said that the tunnel construction work has been completed 100 percent, while the civil construction work has been completed 57 percent, hydromechanical 39 percent, electromechanical 30 percent and transmission line construction has made 5 percent physical progress. The cost of the project, which was initially estimated to cost 33 billion, is estimated to reach about 45 billion as the construction period extends.