Country’s first flyover to be ready in 3 months

By A Staff Reporter,Kathmandu, Jan. 3: The first-ever flyover of Nepal, being constructed at Gwarko, Lalitpur, will be ready for vehicular movements in three months. If things go as planned, the flyover will come into operation by the Nepali New Year (mid-April).

Aashish-Samanantar-Religare JV has been building the flyover at Gwarko intersection in Lalitpur since February 2022. 

Achyut Kharel, head of the Samanantar Construction Company, said they would complete the overall project within three months after the government refused to extend the deadline. 

A contract to build the 540-metre flyover in the Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) model was signed in February 2022 to complete the work in two years. 

However, the project was delayed for multiple reasons, which resulted in a cost overrun. 

First, it took 19 months for the government to approve the design, and then COVID-19 had its toll on the work, Kharel said. “As it was the first flyover, the authorities took time to finalise our design. They made us change our first design and it took 19 months to approve it,” said Kharel.  

When the project was not completed within the deadline of February 2024, the contract was extended by 10 months which expired last month. Now when the government denied extending the deadline, the construction company is working intending to complete it in three months. 

Prabhat Kumar Jha, Engineer of the Roads Departments, said the four-lane flyover will be ready in three months. He informed overall 82 per cent of the work on the flyover has been completed. Works like fixing railings, making pavements and painting works are left. 

Engineer Jha said that the Nepal government has already paid 77.3 million (Rs. 7,77,33515) to the contractor. 

As the contractor failed to complete it by the extended deadline, the contractor had requested to extend the deadline in December. But the Department of Roads denied it and announced a penalty against the contract company.

Now the construction company has to pay a penalty of 0.05 per cent of the total cost per day. In other words, the company has to pay 7.9 million as a penalty if it fails to complete the work in three months. “We are working to complete it in three months,” said Bishal Karki, an authorised representative of the construction company--Aashish-Samanantar-Religare JV.

The flyover has a span of 30 metre while it has a 320-metre ramp on the Koteshwor side and 180 metres on the Satdobato side. 

According to Karki, work on 295-metre of 320-metre ramp on the Koteshwor side and  120-metre of 180 metre ramp on Satdobato side has been completed. Initially agreed to build for Rs. 170 million, the construction cost increased by over 200 per cent.

“We agreed to build it at Rs. 170 million, but now it seems the construction cost will cross Rs. 500 million by the time it is completed,” said Kharel.

Kharel blames the delay in approving the design and the frequent transfers of civil servants designated to oversee the project for the slow progress in the project. 

“First, the government took 19 months to approve the final design and several of the civil servants designated to supervise works at the flyover were transferred, which caused further delay,” Kharel said.

He suggested that the government should formulate a policy not to transfer the employees designated to oversee a development project until it gets completed.

According to Karki, he worked with five new civil servants in three months.

Kharel said an engineer or a supervisor from the government departments is transferred every five or seven months and it takes time to designate a new supervisor to the site. “Again, the new supervisor needs time to get familiar with the situation, which causes delays in completing a project,” Kharel added.    

However, Kharel said that they now have the confidence to build flyovers in Kathmandu. “By building the first flyover of the nation, we have developed the confidence to build flyovers in Kathmandu and elsewhere. If the government decides to build new flyovers, we are ready to build them,” Kharel said.