Work on the access road along the bridge and the guide bunds for the ponds that need to be built on both sides of the river has not progressed for the last two years.
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The work on the four-lane concrete bridge built over the Mahakali River has not yet been completed.
The work on the guide bond of the pond to be built on both sides of the bridge, the access road and the river bank is pending. But no work has been done in the area for the last two years.
Last year, the Mahakali flood destroyed the guide bond. This year, the Nepal Army declared the area a disaster area and carried out the work of repairing the guide bond and changing the river's course. Apart from that, all other work has been stalled.
'Currently, the variation of the changed design has not been approved, and the deadline has not been extended,' said Netra Devkota, head of the Mahakali Bridge Project. 'The construction company has left the side. The project has reached a point where it is impossible to proceed. We have written to the ministry about how to terminate it.'
According to him, although the construction company wrote to terminate the contract, the project has not accepted it.
Last week, Minister for Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation Kulman Ghising conducted an on-site monitoring of the bridge project site. During that time, he assured that he would take the initiative for the approval of the variation. Based on that, the project has sent the matter related to variations, extensions of time and the letter issued by the construction company to terminate the contract to the ministry.
The guide bond constructed in the past could not be varied either. Now the construction company is demanding that the previous design be varied and compensation be paid. ‘We can proceed with the work only after the work done in the old design is varied and compensation is paid,’ said Kishore Pandey, an engineer at the bridge construction company CFEC JV. ‘Work can only be done after the new design variation, extension of time and payment for the work done so far are made.’
According to him, the work has been stalled due to the process of approving the variation for two years. He said that the problem has been compounded by the fact that the amount already worked has not been paid. According to Pandey, the construction company is yet to receive payment of around Rs 300 million.
The design was changed again after the Mahakali flood washed away the guide bond last year. Project Chief Devkota informed that the variation of the changed design has now been sent to the ministry for approval.
The blacktop work of the access road is still pending in some sections under the project. In addition, the construction of the guide bond is also incomplete. A 6-lane, 8-kilometer access road needs to be constructed from Gaddachauki to Meleria Nala in Dodhara-Chandani Municipality-1.
The project has stated that a budget of Rs 85 million has been allocated for the project in the current fiscal year. However, this amount is not enough to pay the remaining payments to the construction company. The project staff expects the budget to increase if the variation is approved.
In Bhadra 2074, a contract agreement was signed with Kumar Shrestha-CFEC JV for Rs 3.27 billion to complete the work within three years. The project has stated that regular work has not been possible due to the corona infection and high water flow in the Mahakali River. Recently, the construction work has not been able to move forward due to the variation process for two years.
There is a design to build two ponds on both sides of the bridge, each 600 meters wide and 2,800 meters long. The initial plan was to build the guide bunds of those ponds using large stones. However, since large stones were not available, the guide bunds were constructed using gravel and concrete. The project has stated that a new design has now been prepared after the guide bund was also destroyed by the recent flood.
