Sainamaina Ring Road remains incomplete for six years

By Pabita Poudel,Sainamaina, Mar. 21: Construction of a ring road in Sainamaina Municipality of Rupandehi district has not been completed even six years after its construction began.

The ring road project of Rs. 570 million should have been completed by October 16, 2021.  Negligence on the part of the contractor is blamed for the delay. 

Lalu Giri, chief of Road Infrastructure Development Office of Rupandehi, said that 10 per cent work on the road project has remained to complete because of the negligence of the contractor who had already finished 90 per cent works.     

Blacktopping process on the 39-kilometre ring road had begun in the initiative of the federal government. 

Road Division Office, Butwal had taken the responsibility of blacktopping the ring road and it had awarded the contract to Sharma and Raman JV Construction. 

After building and tarring 13 kilometres road at a cost of Rs. 390 million, the Road Division Office had handed over the responsibility of completing remaining works of the ring road to the Province Government.    

The province government blacktopped 20 kilometres of the road at the cost of Rs. 290 million. 

Now preparations are being made to give the responsibility of completing the remaining 10 per cent works to the old contractor Uddhav Bhattarai at the earliest, said Giri. 

He further said that the remaining 10 per cent works would be completed in time opening a tender bid in the coming fiscal year.  Contractor Uddhav Bhattari said that the works could not be completed in time due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Phadindra Prasad Sharma, Mayor of Sainamaina Municipality, said that additional 14 kilometres road at Saljhandi in Ward No 10 has also been added to the ring road and work to prepare the Detail Project Report (DPR) would begin this month. He said the same contractor would be awarded contract to blacktop the added road. 

Working process of ring road could not complete in time because of slow working process of the province government, said one local Bishnu Gyawali.

Works to make drains and erect electricity poles have been left on the road even in the portion where the road has already been blacktopped, said Yuwa Raj, another local.   

“It has already been two years since the contract deadline was extended, still much work is left incomplete in this ring road.”