Sharma/Singh/Brothers JV signed a contract agreement in the fiscal year 2075/76 for the blacktop of three other sections, including the opening of the track at Mantabhir in Jajarkot, along with other sections. The JV, which took responsibility for the construction of the four-section package at a cost of about Rs 2 billion, has already extended the deadline for all sections four times.

However, only 60 percent of the blacktop work has been completed, and vehicles are forced to use alternative roads due to road blockages during the rainy season.

Similarly, Siddhisai/Bharat/Mahadev/Khimti JV won a contract in 2072 BS for blacktopping a 13-kilometer road from Patihalne to Rupagad section of Rukum East along the Mid-Hill Highway for Rs 330 million.

So far, it has extended the deadline seven times. The seventh contract expired on Ashar 14. But most of the blacktop it had done has collapsed.

The Mid-Hill Highway Project Office, Dailekh, looks after the 440-kilometer section from Patihalne to Achham in Rukum East. Of which, 65 out of 78 kilometers in Rukum East, 70 in Rukum West, 58 out of 85 kilometers in Jajarkot, 125 in Dailekh and 65 in Achham have been blacktopped.

However, the highway is incomplete as 40 kilometers of the Rukum East and Jajarkot sections have not been blacktopped. Recently, contractor companies have been delaying the blacktop work citing shortage of construction materials. Construction entrepreneur Ramesh Sharma said that there has been an additional problem after India banned bitumen.

‘The construction materials are not available, and even if they are available, the blacktop work has become problematic due to high prices,’ he said. ‘The price of bitumen, which was previously available at Rs 90 per kg, has now reached Rs 150. The increase in fuel prices also caused problems in the work.’ According to him, bitumen used for blacktop is the main construction material, which comes to Nepal via Iran and India. ‘Bitumen is a liquid substance, kerosene is used to thin bitumen,’ he said, ‘There is also a shortage of kerosene now.’

According to the Mid-Hill Highway Planning Office, Dailekh, the blacktop work of about 27 kilometers of the Jajarkot section, Syaulekhola-Karkigaun, Karkigaun-Mantavhir, Mantavhir-Thala and Kudu-Syaulekhola sections, has been stalled.

As the blacktop work has been stalled for a long time, passengers have been forced to travel in a miserable manner, said Chhedagar Municipality Chief Ratna Bahadur Khadka. "Due to the lack of blacktop, vehicles are blocked during the rainy season, and at other times, passengers are forced to travel in dusty and muddy conditions," he said, "There is an equal risk of accidents."

He complained that the contractor had been ignored despite repeated requests to complete the road construction quickly. Parameshwara Karki of Karkigaun said that vehicles get stuck on the road every day due to the road being blocked and passengers are suffering for hours due to traffic jams.

Although the blacktop work on the Rukum East section has barely been completed by 70 percent, most of the blacktop has collapsed, said Amit Mandal, engineer at the Planning Office. "We had issued a notice to cancel the contract on Kartik 17 after the contractor had stalled the work for a long time. Only then did the contractor get in touch," he said, "We still don't know when the work will be completed."

According to him, although all the sections out of 125 kilometers in the Dailekh section have been blacktopped, the contractor was asked to rebuild it after the work was of poor quality in 10 kilometers of the Suyda-Manghar section, he informed. He informed that the completed sections of the road construction are being handed over to the Road Department gradually.

Road construction work has not been completed in Mantabhir for almost 11 years. Even though a 5-meter track has been opened in Mantabhir, due to the uneven grading of the road, there is a compulsion to operate vehicles using an alternative route. The contract for opening the track on the cliff was opened in the fiscal year 2075/76.

Currently, regular vehicles are operating from Dailekh to Badawan in Jajarkot via the Mid-Hill Highway. However, due to the lack of road construction in Mantabhir, there is a compulsion to leave the Mid-Hill Highway and reach Chheda Bazaar on the Chhinchu-Jajarkot road section. Planning Chief Niranjan Thapa said that even though the track has been opened, there is a problem in grading and widening the road due to hard rocks.

The bridge over the Bheri River, which connects Bheri in Jajarkot and Chaurjahari Municipality in Rukum West, along the highway, has also been abandoned for almost 13 years. A contract was signed with YP Construction, Lalitpur, for the construction of the bridge on Asad 29, 2069 for Rs 148.4 million.

But after the company failed to build the bridge for almost 10 years, the contract was terminated in Mangsir 2079. If the bridge is not built, people will have to use an alternative route via Salli Bazaar in Salyan, Rimna in Jajarkot, and Simli in Rukum West to travel eastward via the Mid-Hill Highway. The company had completed about 18 percent of the work on the bridge.

The foundation work for the bridge has been completed, while the work on the ‘substructure’ above the ground and under the bridge and the ‘superstructure’ above the bridge is still pending. A tender for about Rs 220 million was called twice in the last fiscal year for the suspension motorable bridge after changing the design of the bridge. "Nobody put out a tender saying that others had done the work and left," said Engineer Mandal. "We are preparing to open the contract again through the project office."

More than 300 vehicles are currently operating on the Mid-Hill Highway daily. As most of the roads have been blacktopped, construction work for road safety is currently underway, said Planning Chief Thapa. According to him, traffic safety bars have been constructed at 8 kilometers of the Jajarkot, Dailekh and Achham sections.