It has been four and a half years since the contract for the Kanchan Khola-Khursani road of Palpa section under the Saljhandi-Sandhikhark-Dhorpatan road scheme, still the progress is not as expected. Upgrading 13 kilometers of road to black paper level has been progressed only 35 percent so far. This road starts from Saljhandi in Rupandehi and reaches Dhorpatan in Baglung through Palpa, Arkhakhanchi, Gulmi. Its total distance is 197 km.

Gagal Bahadur Bhandari, head of the Saljhandi-Sandhikhark-Dhorpatan road planning office, said that the biggest problem is in the Kanchan Khola-Khursani section. This road section has become a headache for everyone including the social leaders and public representatives of this area. Bhandari says that the locals are disappointed because the road has not been built for years.

Out of 197, 18 km of the road has been blacked out. According to Bhandari, the work is being done under a contract to lay a black sheet on 70 km. "The most problematic area is the Kanchan Khola-Khursani section," said Chief Bhandari. According to the initial contract, the work was to be completed by May 20, 2080. For the first time, the deadline was extended until February 30, 2080. The deadline was extended for the second time till Chait 5, 2081. According to the extended deadline, the work should be completed by Chait 5. "Looking at the work, the progress has not increased, this section has caused problems in the overall road project," said Bhandari, "There are also workers and construction equipment at the construction site." But the builders have not increased the speed of work saying that there is a problem of cash flow.'

Raman-Om-Sugam JV has taken the contract for this road section. Although it is a joint contract, the work is being done by Raman Construction. The contract amount including VAT is 245.4 million rupees. Bhandari said that the payment is being made according to the work done so far. "It is not that they have left the site without work, but there is no progress in the work," he said, "There is progress in other parts of the contract." It was asked to increase the progress of work within 7 days by mobilizing construction equipment and workers at the construction site. If there is any legitimate reason for not taking action, the Planning Office had warned by publishing a notice on February 20 to submit an explanation within 7 days.

"After the publication of the information, there was a problem with the construction materials, the work could not be done, and the answer came that we will work," Bhandari said.

Raman Mahato, Finance Director of Raman Construction claims that there is a problem in not getting the payment for the work done on time. There are no employees on the site. We have to wait for four to five months to get payment for the work done," he said. "There are many technical problems on the road, the road is steep, more than half of it has been damaged due to the flood in October. No decision has been made about this yet. Mahato said that the

planning office is responding to the notification and working on it. "There is a problem at work due to non-payment on time," he said. But the project chief Bhandari claimed that the payment was given as soon as the bill was submitted. "All this is just an excuse of the contractor who does not work," he said, "We have not stopped any payment." "I came to see the construction site, there is no progress in the work, there is also progress in the next contract after this," he said, "In this section, there is a problem, now there is no option to break the contract." The Burtibang-Falleghar road section, which is under the Saljhandi-Sandhikhark-Dhorpatan road plan, has not progressed.