The provincial government's blacktop work target is set to be reduced as road sections targeted for completion in the current fiscal year are affected.
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Road projects in Karnali Province have been halted due to the shortage of bitumen, the main raw material used in blacktop. As the road sections targeted for completion in the current fiscal year are affected, the blacktop work according to the provincial government's target is going to be reduced.
The provincial government had set a target of blacktopping 161 kilometers of roads in the current fiscal year. However, due to the shortage of bitumen during the main blacktopping season, it is certain that the target will not be met. According to Arjun Kumar Bam, Secretary of the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Urban Development, the work has been affected due to the shortage of necessary materials. 'Not getting bitumen during the blacktopping season has seriously affected the target, and even if you get it, it is three times more expensive. Who would work by spending three times more money to meet our target,' he said.
The price of bitumen for construction entrepreneurs was Rs 90 per kg until mid-Falgun. Currently, it has reached Rs 250 if you can get it in the market. ‘How can we work with such expensive materials?’ Manav Bam, general secretary of the Karnali Province Construction Entrepreneurs’ Federation, says, ‘The work was stopped due to the shortage of bitumen at the main time of budget expenditure.’
According to the provincial government, only 53.26 kilometers of roads have been blacktopped in Karnali by mid-Chait. Although a target of 59.7 kilometers was set in Surkhet, only 20.28 kilometers have been completed. About 6.5 kilometers out of 15 kilometers have been blacktopped in Salyan, and only 6 kilometers out of 10 kilometers in Dailekh. A target of 20 kilometers was set in Rukum West, but only 1.20 kilometers have been blacktopped so far. In Jajarkot, only 1.20 kilometers out of the 3 kilometers target have been worked on, in Dolpa, only 130 meters out of the 2 kilometers target have been blacktopped. In Jumla, only 850 meters out of the 2.5 kilometers target have been blacktopped, and in Mugu, only 600 meters out of the 4 kilometers target have been blacktopped. There has been no progress in Kalikot and Humla so far.
Only 16.50 kilometers out of 39 kilometers have been blacktopped under the Rural Road Improvement Project.
