Abandoned cold storage facility deteriorating

By Sudha Deo,Bhardah, (Saptari) May 16: The cold storage facility under construction in Rajbiraj Municipality-15 has been left abandoned for the past five years, and its equipment is now deteriorating.

Even after five years since the contractor company halted the project midway, construction work has still not resumed. 

According to local residents, the iron structures of the under-construction cold storage facility, which has a capacity of 3,000 tonnes, are rusting and becoming unusable.

Local resident Saraswati Yadav said that under the then Madhes Province government’s plan to build one cold storage facility in each of the province’s eight districts, the municipality had provided one bigha of land in Rajbiraj Municipality-15, connected to the Hanumannagar road section, for the project. 

However, after the construction work stopped midway, the facility has remained non-operational to this day.

According to the tender issued by the Madhes government in fiscal year 2017/18, Sharma Ashish JV Pvt. Ltd. had secured the contract for constructing the cold storage facility at a cost of Rs. 254.44 million.

 The agreement was signed on January 3, 2019, and the foundation stone was laid on February 14, 2019.

The construction work had begun after the foundation ceremony. 

According to the agreement, 60 per cent of the total cost was to be provided by the federal government, 20 per cent by the provincial government, and the remaining 20 per cent by cooperative organisations coordinated through the district cooperative union.

Although the project was supposed to be completed by May 31, 2020, more than five years have passed since the final deadline expired, and the project still remains incomplete. 

As a result, the iron structures of the cold storage have become rusty and dilapidated.

Ghanshyam Sah, a representative of the construction company, said that the federal government has released only Rs. 63.6 million out of its 60 per cent cost sharing, while the provincial government has paid only Rs. 10.4 million out of its 20 per cent share. 

He added that although cooperative unions and institutions had agreed to bear the remaining 20 per cent cost, most of that amount is still pending, leaving the project incomplete due to a lack of budget.

He said, “So far, work worth around Rs. 80 million has been completed, but only about Rs. 37.5 million has been paid. If the payment for the completed work is made, we will resume construction. Had the payments been made on time, the project would already have been completed.”

Officiating Mayor of Rajbiraj Municipality, Israt Parbin, said that the project could not be completed because of insufficient funds and delayed payments.

She said, “In the initial year, the federal government had allocated the budget for the cold storage facility through the Ministry of Agriculture. However, in fiscal years 2024/25 and the current fiscal year 2025/26, although the budget was allocated through the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure, the budget allocated by that ministry could not legally be used for an agriculture-related cold storage project. As a result, the construction work could not be completed.”

Local resident Baubalal Yadav said that due to the lack of a cold storage in the district, farmers in the region continue to face difficulties storing their agricultural produce.