Khotang’s development projects in limbo for years

By Rajkumar Bhattarai,Khotang, Aug. 18: Despite being contracted out years ago, six big projects in Khotang remain in an incomplete and uncertain state.

Contracts to blacktop the Mahure-Phoksingtar section of the Sagarmatha Highway and the Sekhuwa-Chakhewa Bhanjyang section of the Mid Hill Highway were signed a long time ago. It has been quite a while since the contracts expired too. But the roads still remain unpaved. They are muddy, dusty and deplorable. It takes a lot of time to cover even short distances, which poses a great problem when people get sick or wounded and need to be taken to a hospital in an emergency, the locals complained.

For the purpose of blacktopping, the 49-kilometre Mahure-Phoksingtar Road was divided into two sections and contracts were awarded to two companies. Bharat Construction-Mainachuli-Siddhi Shahi JV received the contract to pitch 22 kilometres of the road from Mahure to Rajapani on July 14, 2016. As per the contract, worth Rs. 415 million, the company was supposed to complete by July 13, 2020.

It has been three years since that deadline but barely 50 per cent of the work is complete. Work has not moved forward since December last year because the contractor left with all its equipment.

According to the Gaighat-Diktel Road Office, Bharat Construction-Mainachuli-Siddhi Shahi was fined Rs. 1,399,719 in January this year for defaulting the deadline by 14 days. 

Meanwhile, Devnarayan Pawan-Mainachuli-Khampache JV received the contract to blacktop 27 kilometres from Rajapani (Simpani) to Phoksingtar. The contract, worth Rs. 558.7 million, was signed on July 26, 2016 and expired on July 25, 2020. But, to date, only some parts of the road near Phoksingtar has been tarred and the contractor has been out of contact for months.

Another road that was contracted to be blacktopped – the 10-kilometre Sekhuwa-Chakhewa Bhanjyang Road – is in awful condition too. Bharat Construction-Mainachuli-Siddhi Shahi JV was the contractor here too. It had signed the contract on March 15, 2016 and was supposed to complete everything by March 14, 2019. 

But the deadline came and went without the contractor even preparing to begin the work. Bharat Construction-Mainachuli-Siddhi Shahi did not show promptness in work even after the contract was extended multiple times. So, the Mid Hill Highway Project Office cancelled the contract. But the company moved the court and received a stay order. This road section currently lies in the lurch.

Similarly, the Diktel-Ahale Road was supposed to have been completely blacktopped four years ago. But it has not been the case. 

The Rautaha-Susam JV is supposed to hand over an upgraded Hurlung-Jalpa Road in two months. But work is nowhere near complete.The situation is no different with the district’s bridges too. The bridge over the Sunkoshi River at Dhaplang Ghat is still incomplete. Rasuwa SNS-Pappu JV was contracted to build the bridge on July 15, 2016 at a cost of Rs. 225 million. The contract expired on July 14, 2019. But now, four years after the bridge should have been complete, authorities are said to be reviewing its design. The advance amount provided to the contracting company is also believed to have been recovered.

The contract for the bridge over the Sunkoshi River at Banshila Ghat will expire in September. But the contractor MS Kalika-Bedasi JV has only begun laying the foundation. 

Likewise, the bridge over the Pankhu River in Mid Hill Highway was supposed to be built seven years ago. But despite numerous extensions, the contractor Siruwa Construction could not make satisfactory progress. So, the contract was cancelled and a new tender called.

The 635-megawatt Dudhkoshi Reservoir Hydroelectricity Project, one of the largest hydel projects of the country, is also languishing in uncertainty because the compensation to land owners has not been fixed yet.