January 15: The authorities concerned are struggling to complete various sections of highways being built with the support from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) even within the extended deadline.

Narayangadh-Butwal section of the East-West Highway, Muglin-Pokhara road section and Kanchanpur-Kamala road section are being constructed with loans from the ADB.

The ADB project directorate under the Department of Roads has extended the deadline for the Narayangadh-Butwal and Kanchanpur-Kamala roads. The work of these two sections under the East-West Highway is not even half completed.

The Chinese contractor company has expressed commitment to complete the work of 113 km Narayangadh-Butwal section within 15 months. However, despite extending the deadline twice, only 34 kilometers have been blacktopped so far, while the construction of the service lanes, bridges, drains, and sub-bases is underway.

The agreement for construction of Narayangadh-Butwal road section was signed between the DoR and the Chinese company M/S China State Construction Engineering Corporation Pvt Ltd on December 19, 2018. According to the agreement, the road should have been completed on August 22, 2022.

However, the project remains incomplete and the government has extended the deadline twice saying that the work was interrupted due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The deadline for upgrading the road has been extended till July 23, 2024 considering the impact of coronavirus and the problems in removal of electricity poles and availability of construction materials.

As per the latest deadline extension, there is still about seven months left for the project to compete the works related to upgrading this road section. However, project director Chudaraj Dhakal informed that the contractor company has requested for 15 months to complete the work.

Similarly, the deadline of Kanchanpur-Kamala road section has also been extended due to the delay in completion of the work. The DoR had handed over the contract to M/M China Railway No 2 Engineering Group on June 25, 2020 with an agreement to complete the project within three years from the date of signing the agreement.

As the work was not completed on time, the deadline was extended until December 28, 2024. So far, 20.12 kilometers of this road section measuring 86.86 kilometers has been blacktopped. The road is supposed to be expanded into four lanes but only two lanes have been blacktopped. The extended deadline of the project will expire in about one year while the work progress is only 41.47 percent.

Meanwhile, the deadline for upgrading the 80.33 kilometers long Mugling-Pokhara road section with loan assistance of ADB has not been extended.

The DoR had signed a contract agreement with a Chinese company M/S China Communication Construction Company Limited on April 15, 2021 for this project. Project Director Dhakal said that the work of this section should be completed by April 14, 2025, as per the agreement.

"The deadline has not been extended in this section," Dhakal said, "However, the construction company issued a warning for slow work progress. After the department warned of terminating the contract, the contractor made a commitment with a schedule to complete all the work by December 2025.”

The project directorate informed that it is yet to decide on whether or not to extend the deadline.

Last Thursday, the project directorate held a press conference to inform about the progress of these roads. On the occasion, Keshav Kumar Sharma, secretary at the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport, explained the reason for the delay, arguing that Chinese construction workers could not arrive in Nepal due to lockdown in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

“Apart from this, there was a problem with removal of trees and electricity poles. Also, there was no significant support from the local level,” he said.