Narayangadh-Butwal road: journey or torture?

Due to dust and mud, the health of commuters and residents around the road has been affected. Businesses have quadrupled. Traffic has been affected. The risk of accidents is increased. Passengers' time is wasted. Not a few weeks or months, this road section has become a reflection of the havoc of the last 6 years. It is uncertain how many years this situation will continue.

As the festival approaches, the traffic on this stretch of road will increase. Not only local passengers, but also passengers going to western districts from Kathmandu will use this stretch of road, so the number of passengers suffering will also increase. But in the meantime, the road upgrading work is unlikely to be completed immediately. Therefore, there is an immediate need to fill potholes on this road section, take measures to prevent vehicles from slipping, remove obstacles, identify risky places and prepare safety methods. If improvements can be made as much as possible, the chances of inconvenience and accidents to citizens during the festival can be reduced. But there are more aspects to be debated about this road upgrade. Because, even after extending the deadline several times, the work of this road section has not progressed satisfactorily.

This plan has been started to upgrade the Narayangarh-Butwal road section and connect it to the Asian highway with the loan support of Asian Development Bank (ADB). On Chait 8, 2075, China State Construction took the contract for 16 billion 99 crore 52 lakh 96 thousand rupees. At that time, it was said that it would be possible to work within 22 July 2079. The 113 km road is divided into two sections. In which the eastern section is called Gandakot-Downe 64.42 km and the western section is called Downe-Butwal 48.58 km. But the construction work is very slow. But when the deadline was extended for the first time in August 2079, only 18 percent of the work was done. When the deadline was extended for the second time in July 2080, only 38 percent had been completed. When the deadline was extended for the third time in July this year, only 53 percent of the work was done. According to the deadline extended for the third time, the work should be completed by July 8, 2082, for which the same amount of work done in six years should be completed within one year.

Both the government of Nepal and the contractor company are responsible for the delay in the construction work. The government went ahead with the contract process without completing the 'site clearance'. Therefore, even after the contract was signed, a long time was spent on cutting trees, removing electric poles and wires from the roadside. The contractor company complains that the supply of construction materials available in the local area is also obstructed. In the meantime, work was interrupted due to the corona epidemic. But the contractor has cheated by using these issues as an excuse. He has been giving a notice not to proceed with the work saying that there is a loss in the contract. The more the company delays, the more its international credibility is in jeopardy. Such agreements and implementation of development projects attract not only the financial sector. The relationship between the two countries and the aspect of diplomatic relations are also automatically linked. When the company in charge does not fulfill its professional religion, the credibility of its country is automatically attached. But the Chinese company does not seem to be sensitive to this issue.

Parliamentary committees have been monitoring and giving instructions from time to time to pressurize the completion of work on time. Physical infrastructure ministers also monitor. But the contractor company has been doing it as if not listening. This time, the government has set a 'milestone' for the contractor company to see the progress from January to February. It is said that if the milestone is not completed within that period, the contract will be cancelled. During this period also, it is necessary to increase the pressure to be given to the contractor, to regularly evaluate the progress of the work and facilitate the clearing of the legitimate problems shown by the contractor. But if his irresponsibility continues, the contract should be canceled and blacklisted. However, this is the last step. Because doing so will increase time and cost. Invisible challenges will be added. Diplomatic complications may arise. In order to prevent that situation from happening, it is necessary to mobilize initiatives to accelerate the work now.