The construction of the 'Madan Bhandari Assembly Hall', which was started in 2074 BS with the aim of making it the best assembly hall in the Koshi Province, has been stalled. The construction of the assembly hall, which was started for the past 8 years at Tharuhat Stadium in Triyuga Municipality-13, Udayapur, has not been completed yet.

The construction of the assembly hall has been stalled due to lack of budget, negligence on the part of the construction team, and litigation.

The work of ‘Phase 1’ of the assembly hall, which is being constructed under the supervision of the Intensive Urban Development and Building Construction Project Office, Rajbiraj, was not completed and the work was taken forward by contracting ‘Phase 2’.

Rabina/Joshi/Pavitra JV took over the construction of the assembly hall on 10 Baisakh 2074 with a cost of 270 million rupees and to complete all the work within 3 years. After the construction company delayed the work citing various reasons, the Urban Development and Building Construction Office called for the second phase of the contract without canceling the contract agreement.

Sunkoshi Construction, Kathmandu, took over the contract for the construction of the assembly hall on 14 Mangsir 2079 with a cost of 182 million rupees and to complete the remaining work by 13 Jestha 2081. The construction company that won the second phase contract also had its deadline extended twice as it failed to complete the work on time. However, the work is not yet complete.

Although the roof work on the top floor of the building has been completed, wiring, installing modern chairs in the assembly hall, installing AC, painting, interior and exterior finishing, garden, parking, and construction of a gazebo are still pending, said Sushil Chaudhary, engineer at the project office. “The work of the second phase is also not completed yet, now the remaining work can only be completed by placing a third phase contract with another construction company,” he said.

The deadline extended twice with the construction company that won the second phase contract is also ending at the end of this year. Since 35 percent of the work of the second phase construction is still pending, discussions are underway to get the remaining work done by paying a fine or canceling the contract agreement, said Neeraj Karna, engineer at the project office who has been monitoring the site of the Madan Bhadan Bhandari Assembly Hall. He said that the construction side is not completing the work on time, and the cost is also increasing.

The construction side that won the first phase of the contract has filed a case in the Biratnagar High Court blaming the government for payment and other technical issues, and the project office has stated that the first phase of the work has not been completed since the case has not been decided.

‘There is a situation where the work cannot be moved forward without a decision on the case, due to which the assembly hall will not be operational even if the construction company of the second phase completes its work,’ said Engineer Karna. The office is preparing the estimate for the third phase of the contract, and if the government ensures additional budget, the contract will be opened soon, he said.

A technician said that the construction of the building has not been completed yet due to negligence in the construction of the DPR of the assembly hall. ‘Initially, the budget was small, although the DPR was prepared for around Rs 240 million, it was done accordingly, but when that budget was not enough, Rs 30 million was added, but the work was not even half completed,’ said the technician. ‘If the DPR and cost estimate had been prepared according to the design of the building and the contract had been awarded, all the work would have been completed much earlier,’ he said. ‘It would cost about Rs 1 billion to complete all the work of the assembly hall. This problem has arisen because the contract was awarded piecemeal.’

The plan, which was initially approved at a cost of Rs 249 million excluding VAT, was revised a year later to around Rs 270 million. So far, 85 percent of the physical structure has been completed, but only Rs 175 million has been paid for the project, said Kedar Dahal, a representative of the first-phase construction company, Ravina, Joshi, Pavitra JV. He said that since the case of the first-phase work is pending in court, the remaining work will be completed according to the verdict.

The estimate states that the assembly hall, located on an area of ​​two bighas, will have organized parking, male-female and disabled-friendly toilets, a guest house, a canteen and staff accommodation. There will be two assembly halls, one large with a capacity of 1,500 people and the other small with a capacity of 500. The estimate mentions that there will be underground parking, a flower garden, a main entrance and an exit.