Major parties have been giving importance to political campaigns centered on Madhyapahari and Hulaki Highway. But despite being given importance for political campaigns, the Madhyapahari and Hulaki highways have been stalled for a long time due to lack of budget.

When they were in opposition, the parties that demanded budget for highway construction from the government have been ignoring them after coming to power.

UML President and Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli and NESP (New Power) President and former Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai have already conducted political campaigns on these highways. At that time, they submitted a demand letter to the government to complete the construction of the highway.

Maoists have started their political journey centered on the Madhyapahari highway from Friday after completing the Terai-Madhesh Hulaki highway campaign from last May 17. Congress General Minister Gagan Thapa also had a dialogue with the locals from 13th to 26th January 2080 through Hulaki Highway. Maoist Chairman and former Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal has started a campaign centered on Madhyapahari Highway from Patan in Baitadi. 

In the political campaign aimed at increasing public relations in the settlements of Madhyapahari highway, the leaders have been promising to complete the project related to highway construction by securing resources. Leaders are also criticized for not paying attention to ensuring resources when they are in power, but when they are in opposition, they make the same highway a political issue. 

When Maoist Chairman Dahal was the Prime Minister for the first time, the Madhyapahari Highway project was promoted through the 2065 budget. It was decided to go ahead with the project in February 2065, and it connects 26 districts of Madhyapahar. Also, it was decided to develop 10 modern cities along this highway.

The construction of the highway has not been completed even in 17 years due to the lack of financial resources. The Maoists, who have gone on a political campaign, have demanded that the rest of the highway be completed. Dahal said launching a campaign focused on highways had political and emotional meaning.

"Operating the Madhyapahari Highway has emotional and political meaning. When I was the first Prime Minister, I proposed that the Madhyapahari Lokmarg is needed to change the economic life of the people of the hills and the plains to unite the country," he said, "which is now in the final stage of the construction process."

During the Congress-Maoist power alliance, the then main opposition party UML also conducted a Madhyapahari campaign from 14 November 2080. The 17-day-long campaign, which was conducted from Jhulaghat in the far west to Chiwabhanjang in the far east, was called 'Salkalp Yatra for Prosperity' by the UML. UML held 30 big meetings and about 100 small events in a journey of about 2000 km. During the campaign, UML submitted a memorandum to the then Prime Minister Dahal containing "751 plans and programs with the development potential and challenges of the Madhyapahari area". 

In the memorandum, the updated status of Pushpalal (Madhyapahari) road and re-drawing and improvement in some places were demanded. 157 demands were related to roads, while UML also demanded construction of 25 motorable bridges on highways from the then government.

UML drew the government's attention to the fact that migration to hilly villages has emerged as a major challenge, some settlements are falling apart, schools are closing due to lack of students, agricultural land is becoming barren, etc.

UML also drew the attention of Prime Minister Oli about the issues included in the Madhyapahari Highway political campaign. Rajendra Gautam, head of UML's propaganda department, said that the demand will be addressed in the upcoming budget. "A memorandum has been submitted to the Prime Minister to address the demands raised in the Madhyapahari highway campaign in the upcoming budget," he said, "It is expected that the demands raised by the people for multifaceted development on the highway will be addressed." 

Former Prime Minister Bhattarai started his political journey on Madhyapahari Highway. The Madhyapahari highway project was taken forward as part of the national pride project when Bhattarai was the finance minister in the Maoist Chairman Dahal-led government formed after the 2064 Constituent Assembly election. Bhattarai's 'Janasamwad Yatra' which started from Chiwabhanjyang in Panchthar on January 15, 2075, reached Jhulaghat in Baitadi and ended on February 15. 

Congress and Maoists' postal highway-centered campaign

Congress General Minister Gagan Thapa also had a dialogue trip with the locals centered on the postal highway from January 13 to 26, 2080. During the journey, he understood the demand for the speedy completion of Hulaki Highway. 

Maoist Chairman Dahal himself led the 45-day long march under the 'Maoist with Janata: Terai-Madhesh Awakening Campaign'. The Maoist Hulaki highway-centric campaign, which started from Kachankawal in Jhapa on February 12, ended with a meeting in the Mahendranagar border area of ​​Kanchanpur on May 18. He claimed that when he was the Prime Minister, the work was accelerated by having a special conversation with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to advance the postal highway.

Maoist Chairman Dahal this time addressed about 100 meetings in 20 districts listening to the complaints and suggestions of the locals around Hulaki Highway. I understood the memorandum from the locals. He also promised to take the initiative to complete the construction of Hulaki Highway. 

Dealing with budget problems Madhyapahari and Hulaki Highway 

It has been 17 years since the construction of Madhyapahari highway started. But the progress is only 80 percent. Contract management has not been done in the project. The government has not given resource consent for the new contract. This project was started in the financial year 064/65 to connect 215 settlements of 26 districts of Madhyapahar. It is estimated that 1 crore people will benefit after the completion of the project.

The work has been started according to the goal of building a two-lane black paper road from Chiwabhanjang in Panchthar in the east to Zhulaghat in Baitadi in the west. Out of 1,879 km, 1,016 km of road construction is being done under the project. 462 km road is under other projects. So far, 1 thousand 478 km of roads have been paved through plan and division roads. 

Out of 137 bridges to be built, only 180 have been completed. Currently, 137 km of roads in 9 sections, including 16 bridges damaged by floods, are yet to be managed. Rabindralal Das, project director of the Madhyapahari Highway Project Directorate, said that 1.15 billion rupees were requested for the new contract and 1.96 billion rupees for the new roads and bridges that had to be broken. A letter was sent to the Ministry of Finance through the road department last October for resource consent. 

"We have not been able to get more contracts due to the lack of resource consent," said Das, "there is a risk that the project will not be completed on time and delayed." "Now the problem is in the Bheri river bridge that connects Jajarkot and Rukum West, we have asked for resource consent to break the old contract and build a new one," Das added. He said that it should be done.  The initial cost estimate of the

project is Rs 33 billion 36 crore, while the revised cost estimate is Rs 84 billion 33 crore. 70 billion 88 million have been spent so far. As per the revised schedule, its work should be completed by 084/85. "There is a problem of asking for resource consent every year," he said, "even if the government says that this is not a problem in the project of national pride, there is always a compulsion to work in this way."

The same problem in the postal highway

Due to the lack of budget, the postal highway has also not progressed. The planning offices under the said highway have not been paid for the work done till February. As a result, the project could not speed up the work. Kuwer Nepali, the project director of the Postal Highway Directorate, said that although 1 billion rupees had been arranged internally, the payment for additional work could not be paid. 

"The bill worth 2.5 billion rupees for the work done till February has been prepared, but due to lack of money, the payment has not been made until today," he said, "Therefore, there is confusion about how much work will be done until June of the current year and how much budget will be received." has stopped working. Contracts that should be completed have not been completed.

"There is a situation where the construction businessmen cannot work because there is no money. It seems that the businessmen have lost faith in the project," said an engineer of the project. This year, 1 billion 500 million resources were approved, but it was not enough. 

"It's been 16 years since the project started, but the drawing of the park area has not been finalized yet," said the engineer, "When the government is late even in the policy decision that needs to be made immediately, its effect is affecting the entire project." In some cases, the work is also delayed due to court cases. 

Its construction was started from 066/67 to connect the district headquarters of Terai East-West. So far the progress is only 71 percent. According to the concept of connecting the land from Kechankawal in Jhapa to Dodhara Chandni in Kanchanpur in the west, its construction process has been started. Its construction has been started to benefit about one crore people of 21 districts of Terai-Madhesh.

The total distance of the highway is 1,857 km. It includes 882 km of subsidiary roads. So far, only 1,254 km of roads have been paved. As per the revised time frame, the deadline is up to FY 083/84. When the project started, the initial cost estimate was Rs 47 billion 24 crore. 65 billion 20 million after revision. Now its cost is increasing to 1 trillion 1 billion 93 crore rupees. So far 66 billion 10 million 33 lakh rupees have been spent.

The government has allocated a budget of only 3 billion 38 million rupees for this project in the current financial year. Only 3.5 billion rupees ceiling has been given for the coming year, but according to the current work, the project needs 5 billion rupees. 

The goal of the project is to build 75 km of roads and 10 bridges in the current year. But the budget is becoming an obstacle to achieve the goal. "If the old bill could be paid by February, almost all the current contracts would have been completed by 083/84," said Nepali, the Project Director of the Postal Highway Directorate.

'It takes November to get the consent of the source,' he said, 'This has disrupted the contract process itself, it should be mentioned in the budget that contracts of up to this amount can be made for projects of national pride, if it takes November to do the contract, what is the point of bringing the budget in May?' Of the 250 bridges under the Hulaki highway, only 142 bridges have been built so far. Nepali told that 19 bridges are being contracted. 

Now there is a competition going on between various parties to travel the postal, Madhyapahari highway. But while traveling in this way, an engineer of the road department said that there is no initiative on what problems have come up to complete the project on time and how it can be solved.