सिंहदरबार संवाददाता
Parbat. The shortest national pride project connecting the north and south, the Kaligandaki Highway, has not been completed even after 15 years. The highway, whose construction began in the fiscal year 2066.67, has so far made only 65 percent progress.
The Kaligandaki Corridor Project Office has stated that the project has not been completed even after a decade and a half due to insufficient budget allocation from the government, blockade, earthquake, and the impact of COVID-19. According to the project, the road has not been completed on the scheduled date due to insufficient annual budget for the road.
In the current fiscal year alone, there is an obligation to pay the contractor an amount of 550 million. According to Pipul Gautam, Engineer of the Kaligandaki Corridor Project Office, Palpal, 65 percent of the highway work has been completed so far, and the completion period of the project has been extended to the fiscal year 2083/84. Except for some parts of the road, most of it has been made 11 meters wide.
The total length of the Kaligandaki Corridor, whose construction began in the fiscal year 2066/67, is 495 kilometers. Of the estimated cost of 30.57 billion, the cost of the Gaidakot-Ramdi-Maldhunga section is 20.22 billion and the cost of Beni-Jomsom-Korla is 10.35 billion. He informed that 20 billion has been spent so far.
Locals in the affected areas are angry, saying that there has been a delay in the construction of the highway. Locals have complained that due to the slow pace of the Kaligandaki Corridor construction work, irrigation and drinking water projects have been disrupted, and the roads and auxiliary dirt roads have been damaged, affecting public life.
Stakeholders are demanding that the construction work of the Gaindakot-Ramdi-Maldhunga section of the Kaligandaki Corridor be expedited and completed on time. Constituent Assembly member and former Minister of Gandaki Province Bikash Lamsal said that the delay in the construction of the corridor, which has the potential to open the door to economic prosperity, was regrettable.
Although all the roads on the highway have been opened, it is regrettable that the work in some sections is not satisfactory, he said. He said that the work should be done quickly when the government has already secured a budget of Rs 1.5 billion.
Falebas Municipality Mayor Gangadhar Tiwari stressed that the corridor should be completed quickly as it is the basis of economic prosperity. He said that the local government will solve the irrigation, drinking water and road issues that have been lagging behind during the construction of the corridor as per the demands of the locals, and that the project should also be built quickly.
Kamal Prasad Bhusal, former chairman of Bihadi Rural Municipality in Parbat, said that although the corridor has ended the problem of having to travel through three districts to reach the district headquarters, satisfactory work has not been done. He said that the locals are happy that the Bihadi section has been blacktopped and that it has become easier to market agricultural products there. He urged the project to be expedited, complaining that the existence of the Shaligram Shila at the religious site Setiveni would be erased due to the accumulation of fallen stones and soil during the construction of the corridor.
Ghanshyam Bhattarai, ward chairman of Galyang Municipality-5 in Syangja, said that local residents were forced to leave 80 ropanis of cultivable land when a three-kilometer irrigation canal collapsed due to the corridor. Chairman Bhattarai said that five houses were displaced when the construction work of the 10-kilometer road section in his municipality was lax, and urged the construction work to be completed quickly.
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