सिंहदरबार संवाददाता
Siraha. The work of expanding and upgrading the Kanchanpur-Kamala road section under the government’s transformational pride project has been completed with 53.4 percent construction progress in four years. The deadline for the expansion and upgrading of this 86.83-kilometer east-west highway from Kanchanpur in Saptari to Kamala in Siraha has been extended twice.
Although the construction of the road was supposed to start on October 29, 2020 and be completed by October 28, 2023, the deadline was extended for the first time to December 28, 2024 after the work was not completed on time. However, even in this extended time, only half of the work was completed. After that, the deadline has been extended for one year again until December 31, 2025, informed Saroj Koirala, Technical Branch Engineer of the Kanchanpur-Kamala Road Project West Section under the Road Department.
The cost of this project, which is being constructed in two sections, is 15.66 billion 44 thousand 983 (including VAT and PIS). This project has an agreement to blacktop 86.83 kilometers of roads, construct 229 culverts and 54 main bridges. While work is underway to expand the six-lane road in the urban area, a four-lane road is being constructed elsewhere.
Under this project, which has been awarded the contract to the Chinese construction company ‘China Railway-2 Engineering Group’, the cost of constructing the 47-kilometer road from Balan to Kamala in the western (Shiraha) section has so far been Rs 8.38 billion 9968 thousand 748. According to Engineer Koirala of the Western Section Technical Branch, out of 25 bridges and 115 culverts to be constructed in this section, the slopes of 17 bridges have been completed so far, while the slopes of eight bridges are yet to be completed.
‘Only 55.39 percent physical progress has been made in four years and two months, three years and an additional 14 months,’ said Engineer Koirala, ‘under which the work of laying blacktop on 24 kilometers on the right side of the road and 21 kilometers on the left side has been completed. Similarly, two flyovers are yet to be completed, while two underpasses have been started. He said that the lack of physical progress as per the target within the deadline is due to the impact of the Corona pandemic on the work that was started, and there are obstacles in the construction and the relocation of electricity poles.
Similarly, the eastern section (Saptari) from Kanchanpur to Kushahawa, which has a contract worth Rs 7.27 billion, has not made as much physical progress as the western section (Sirha), informed Rajiv Jha, engineer of the technical branch of this section. According to him, the physical progress of this section has been only 51.42 percent.
As the road infrastructure project is slow, the residents of Kanchanpur-Kamala have been suffering from mud in the rains and dust in the winter. Citizens are not confident that the construction will be completed even within the additional one-year period. Experts say that the failure to build infrastructure on time has a serious impact on the country’s economy.
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