सिंहदरबार संवाददाता
Kavrepalanchok. Passengers have been suffering for three years in the Dhulikhel-Khawa section of Kavrepalanchok along the Araniko Highway. Since the start of the road expansion in Chaitra 2079 BS, due to the lack of work as per the agreement on the four-kilometer section, passengers have been forced to travel in dust and mud.
The highway has been blocked for weeks during the rainy season when goods and passenger vehicles get stuck in mud. Hundreds of accidents have occurred on the roads demolished for reconstruction, and passengers have also been injured.
The Road Division Office, Bhaktapur, has canceled the contract for the said section after the construction company failed to complete the work as per the agreement even after almost eleven months of the deadline. Locals say this has increased uncertainty about when construction will resume. An agreement was signed with Gauri-Parbati Construction Services Pvt. Ltd. to expand the section from the district headquarters Dhulikhel to Khawa. The company had taken the contract on Jestha 20, 2079 BS for Rs 2019.46 million, 501, to complete the construction by Chaitra 19, 2080 BS.
Construction on the section has been stalled since last year. The construction has become uncertain after the Road Division Office canceled the contract last Thursday. The infrastructure committee of the parliament had monitored it after road users complained repeatedly and passengers suffered. The office stated that the contractor company delayed the construction even after the Road Division’s request. The last time it was asked for clarification was on Magh 19. Now, after completing the process, preparations are underway to reopen the contract in a few weeks, said Senior Divisional Engineer Suman Yogesh, head of the office.
According to him, the contract will be re-issued based on physical and financial percentages. The office has stated that 25 percent financial progress has been made so far. So far, only the work of cutting the hill from Dhulikhel Bus Park to the zipline has been completed, while work on installing drains and drain walls has been done in some places. “About one kilometer of the demolished road from the zipline down to Khawa remains to be cut,” he said.
Although the work of laying the base and sub-base from the Dhulikhel side started last Jestha, everything was washed away in the rain and turned into ruins. Kedar Dhungana, who came to Banepa from Panchkhal by public transport, said that he was stuck in a traffic jam for about two hours. “If the construction of the said section is not completed as soon as possible, it will be more difficult to travel on this road during the rainy season,” Ude said. He said that two-wheelers plying on the highway are also having a hard time crossing the section.
The Dhulikhel-Khawa section, which has been deteriorating for some years, was going to be widened to 12 meters and blacktopped. Keeping in mind the load-bearing capacity of the goods vehicles plying on the road, the office had planned to lay a 20-centimeter-thick cement base on the gravel for the first time in Nepal and blacktop it in two stages with DBM and asphalt. This is the section that reaches Nepal’s northern border with China, namely Tatopani in Sindhupalchowk, Dolakha, and Ramechhap via the Araniko Highway.
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