Delay in upgrading highway irks locals in Madhes

By Dhirendra Prasad Sah,Janakpur, Apr. 6: As part of the National Pride Project,  work to upgrade the East-West Highway is currently underway in the 86 km section from the Kamala River east in Siraha district to Kanchanpur west in the Saptari district. As of Friday, only 33 kilometres of the road on one side has been blacktopped.

After the public started complaining about the delay in highway upgrading work in the Saptari section, a team led by Chief District Officer Kiran Thapa, including the heads of the security agencies monitored the road and collected information.  

Chief of the Project Khadga Lal Shrestha informed the monitoring team that the work was affected due to the ban imposed on the extraction of gravel and sand from the Khuti River by local levels.  

CDO Thapa assured that the local administration would fullly support to solve the arising problems.

The Chinese contractor company, China Railway 2 Engineering Group, was awarded the contract to upgrade the road at Rs. 15.56 billion. The contract was signed in October 2020 with the completion deadline of October 2023. 

The work has not been concluded within the three-year timeframe, the deadline has been extended by one year and the new deadline expires in December 2024.

Initially, delays occurred due to the impact of COVID-19 and obstacles related to the removal of electric poles and encroachments along the road, prompting the deadline extension.

The engineering group secured the contract for the construction work on two packages extending up to Kamala-Kanchanpur. The first package encompasses the eastern road section from Kushaha in Saptari to Kanchanpur, jointly funded by 72 per cent from the Asian Development Bank and 28 per cent from the Nepal government. Similarly, the second package covers the western road section from Balan (Kushaha) in Siraha to the eastern side of the Kamala River.

The contract company was tasked with completing the construction work, which included blacktopping of 86 kilometres of the roads and building main bridges, overpass bridges, underpass bridges, culverts, and drains. However, to date, blacktopping concluded only on a one-way of 33-kilometre of the road section.

The construction of the culverts, bridges, and canals remains incomplete. Efforts have been intensified to accelerate the construction work, the construction company said.

In the past two and a half months, the construction work on the Kamala-Kanchanpur road project in the western section was affected due to the obstruction in extracting gravel and bringing in equipment, delay in removing electric poles and ongoing water supply work. 

Engineer Saroj Koirala from the Department of Roads, Western Division said,” Even though we have provided funds to the Electricity Distribution Centre in Lahan in June/July last year and to the Mirchaiya Distribution Centre in September/October last year, the work has not started yet.” 

“Once the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) process for extracting sand and gravel from the rivers is completed, we will be in the final stage of gaining approval from the Ministry, and the work will proceed without any hindrances,” said Koirala.

According to the plan, the road in the urban market area will be 50 meters wide (six lanes) while the road in other areas will be 24 meters wide (four-lane). 

Koirala said that 20 kilometres of one-way road in Lahan, Padaria, Mirchaiya, Dhangadhi and Kasaha, has already been blacktopped. 

The total road construction work in the western section covering 47 kilometres has been contracted for Rs. 8.38 billion. 

Under the project,  construction of 25 main bridges, 115 culverts, 44 kilometres of drains, one overpass bridge each in Lahan and Mirchaiya, and four underpasses in Lahan and two in Golbazaar is in progress. 

Koirala said that while many main bridges have been concretised, the painting and installation of railings are yet to be completed. There is 34 per cent progress in terms of financial expenses and 47 per cent in terms of physical progress in this section, he added.

Kanchanpur-Kamala Road Plan, Eastern Section Chief Khadga Lal Shrestha said that the contract for the 39 km of the eastern section from Kanchanpur to Kushah has been awarded for Rs. 7.27 billion. In this section, 29 main bridges, 114 culverts, and six kilometres of canals are being constructed.

He said that eight or nine bridges have been concretised, and the construction of culverts is in its final stage. There are plans to blacktop six kilometres of six-lane road and 33 kilometres of four-lane road in this section. 

He added that there is 33 per cent progress in terms of financial completion and 45 per cent physical progress in this section.

Kunahawa Engineering and Consulting Corporation Limited from Korea and BCL Associates Limited from Bangladesh are the consultants assigned to the comprehensive management of the project.