KATHMANDU, Dec 27: The expansion of Narayanghat-Butwal road has remained stalled for the last six months. The Chinese construction company has not advanced the construction work any further since July, claiming that it does not even have enough capital to operate the workforce on the field.
The project, which started more than six years ago, has achieved only 53 percent physical progress so far. The construction company has already received nearly Rs 10 billion in advance payments.
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Just last week, the China State Construction Engineering Corporation sent Rs 270 million to expedite the work. However, the project instead used the money received from China to clear the arrears. The project still has an outstanding bill of Rs 700 million remaining.
According to the project officials, they are facing problems in mobilizing workers in the field as the Chinese company has not provided sufficient funds to ensure timely construction of the project. The company has promised to send another tranche of Rs 680 million within the second week of January.
According to Senior Divisional Engineer Shashank Mishra, head of the western section of the project, they are not able to expedite the work as per the schedule because of insufficient budget.
Mishra said that the construction of approximately 800 meters road in Rupandehi's Lumbini section, 700 meters in Khaireni, 1200 meters in the forest area, 700 meters east of Sunwal, about 3.4 kilometers of one-way blacktopping are in the final stage of completion. However, the company has not been able to work due to lack of money.
Mishra added that the construction company had last month pledged to send about Rs 1 billion by January. Similarly, he said that the project requires Rs 3 billion by March to speed up the work.
