Seti Lokmarg is not a priority of the government

For the construction of Seti Lokmarg, which is a multi-year project, the government has established separate project offices at Sanfebagar in Achham for the southern section and Chainpur in Bajhang for the northern section. Of the 194 kilometers in the southern section, 59 kilometers of road tracks have not been opened. Similarly, in the northern section of Bajhang area, 77 km of the 155 km track is yet to be opened.

Even though the government has been including it in the budget from the financial year 2065/66, it has not been prioritized, but 136 kilometers of road tracks have yet to be opened on this 349-kilometer public road. So far, only 213 kilometers of roads have been opened.

Engineer Yuvraj Joshi said that a tender has been invited for the 10 km road tarmac in Durgouli-Pratapur of Kailali under the south section. He said that after managing the contract in the current year, the black paper work will start only in the coming year. According to him, the work of opening the track of the 55 km road section from Baunian in Kailali to the border of Doti will be completed by June of the current year.

Joshi said that the work of this section, which was contracted for 33 crores in the year 073/74, has to cut trees and for that, it is going to be completed only in the current year because of the delay in getting the cutting order from the Council of Ministers. According to him, one of the two bridges in this section has been completed and the other one is in the process of construction.

He said that even though the construction company had completed the work of the bridge, the payment had not been made. The bridge has been built at a cost of 10 million. A budget has been requested from the Ministry of Finance. We have not been able to get the payment yet," said Joshi, an engineer from the southern section, "The road department has taken the initiative to manage the budget and has reached the Ministry of Finance. The official information about when the budget will arrive has not been received.

project engineer Joshi said that the track could not be opened on the 40 km road section in Doti. He said that although the contract was managed last year for about 67 crores, the work has not yet started because about 2800 trees in this section have to be cut.

"We have sent a file to the Ministry of Forestry through the road department to cut down about 2800 trees in Doti area," he said. So far, we have been waiting for the cutting order. The company entrusted with the construction has been taking materials to the project site for a year, he said. Out of the 80 km in the Achham section, 32 km of track is yet to be opened .

'If the government could manage about one billion budget for Seti Lokmarg in one financial year, the work would have progressed . With the construction of the bridge, only 170 million budget will come,' he said, 'If the government works hard, the work equivalent to the budget provided in one year will be completed in a month.' . The length of the only road connecting Achham from Dhangadhi, the capital of Sudurpaschim Province, is about 270 km, but it will be reduced to 135 km after the construction of Seti Lokmarg. Project Engineer Pankaj Dhami said that the work on the Chainpur-Taklakot road section in Bajhang, the northern section of the Seti Lokmarg, is also progressing slowly.

in the northern section He said that only 42 kilometers of roads are currently being worked on. He said that although he requested budget management from the Ministry of Finance to pave 10 kilometers of roads and work in other areas, nothing came.