To address these problems, the Secondary Towns Integrated Urban Environmental Improvement Project was brought into operation exactly three years ago. The project, which had remained stalled since the past six months due to Madhesh agitation, has resumed as the country is gradually returning to normalcy.The delay had been causing a monthly loss of Rs 20 million, according to the sub-metropolitan city.
"Before the agitation, the project was delayed by monsoon. Then, the Madhesh agitation started just as the project was starting to gather pace," said engineer Sailendra Shrestha, chief of the sub-metropolitan city's Project Implementation Unit (PIU).
"Acute fuel crisis and lack of means to transport necessary equipment during the banda period forced us to delay the project. Now as the situation is returning to normalcy, we have once again resumed the works," he added.
The project worth Rs 2.48 billion was awarded jointly to China's CTC and Nepal's Kalika Contraction firm. As per the contract, the project should be completed by upcoming May. The project should have been 80 percent complete by now, but the project's consultancy report shows that only 38.91 percent of the work has been completed so far.
"The main reason for the delay is obviously banda and the blockade. It'll take us some time to determine the total losses caused by the delay," informed Bhupendra Man Shakya, specialist of the consultancy.
According to Nagina Kumar Yadav, another engineer at the PIU, it will take additional 13 months to complete the project. "Under the project, construction of big sewage has been completed by 35 percent, small sewage by 11 percent and domestic sewage by 40 percent," he added.
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