NAWALPUR, July 8: The expansion work of Narayanghat-Butwal road section has come to a standstill due to continuous rains.

Ashish Thapa Magar, Project Chief of Eastern Section of Narayanghat-Butwal Road Expansion Project, said that instead of road expansion work, efforts are being made to facilitate the operation of traffic now.

He said, "We have focused on facilitating traffic since it is not feasible to expand the road in the rainy season. The construction company has deployed its manpower and equipment to facilitate the traffic in the places where the road is blocked." 

He said that construction professionals have been deployed for tasks such as filling potholes, placing gravel on slippery roads and removing landslide debris.

"After the onset of this year's monsoon, the construction company had been reducing its resources since a week ago," he said. "The work was halted because it is not possible to carry out road expansion during the rainfall”, he added.

Project Chief Magar stated that the road expansion work, which began in January 2019 with an agreement to be completed in three and a half years, has only shown 52 percent physical progress so far. Out of the 114 kilometers of the Narayanghat-Butwal road, 65 kilometers fall within the eastern section.

The construction company, China State Engineering Corporation Limited, which has not completed the road expansion work on time, is approaching the end of its second extension period on July 23, 2024. Magar mentioned that as the deadline is nearing, the construction company has requested an additional one-year extension.

"The construction company has requested an extension citing various reasons," he said. "They have mentioned the Covid-19 pandemic at the start of the work, the delayed approval for tree cutting, and the delays in relocating electricity poles, among other reasons, to justify their request for an extension."

Magar stated that they are still discussing how many days of extension would be appropriate based on the construction company's request. "We are discussing the matter with the consultant to decide the duration of the extension," he said. "Once we make a recommendation, we will send the file to the ministry for the extension." Thapa mentioned that even though the approval for the extension may come before July 23, it is not yet possible to specify how many days will be added.