The road has caved in at several places while some sections at more than five dozen places have been swept away by landslides. [break]
Locals claimed works on the bottom layer, both rolling of soil and the use of base course, were sub-standard.
“The road caved in as the gravel that was put without checking the quality of the soil made its way through the soil,” argued Ram Prasad Pakuwal of Sundrawati.
“The engineers and technicians of UTKHPL did nothing when the contractors were using sub-standard materials during the construction right under their nose,” Laxmi Prasad Siwakoti of Sunkhani said. “When we went to them with complaints, the UTKHPL technicians told us we need not teach engineering to the foreign-trained technicians.”
Large pits have been formed as vehicles continuously ply over the destroyed road, some of which get stuck in the mud for hours.
The road from Singati to Lamabagar remained totally obstructed for the past two weeks. The 35 kilometer Dolakha-Singati section has also been destroyed at many places making vehicular movement very difficult.
Chief of the Civil Construction Department of UTKHPL Madhusudan Pratap Malla conceded that the road was destroyed at some parts due to the sub-standard works of contractors, but he also accused the locals for the sorry condition of the road. “It´s true that there has been weaknesses on the part of contractors, but the locals of Sundrawati and few other places didn´t allow rolling of the soil during the construction saying the vibration of heavy rollers would be detrimental to their houses,” Malla claimed.
Sinohydro, the contractor responsible for developing UTKHPL, was reluctant to take over the road construction as stipulated in the contract saying the expense of upgradation would push the contract´s cost beyond the agreed amount. It, however, agreed to take over later just make it functional without touching the sections destroyed by landslides.
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