KATHMANDU, July 26: The Development and Technology Committee under the House of Representatives held a meeting on Monday and said that the Kathmandu-Tarai-Madhesh Expressway project will not be completed within the stipulated time.

The committee expressed doubt over the completion of the project on time, considering the overall progress of only 21.18 percent of the project till the end of last year and the fact that the contract management works have not been completed according to the predetermined schedule of the project.

The committee said that they are not confident that the expressway will be completed on time. Considering this situation, the committee has directed the Government of Nepal, the Office of the Prime Minister and the Council of Ministers, the Ministry of Defense and related projects to immediately prepare and implement a concrete schedule for 2022/23 with a reliable basis for completing the work in a quality manner without increasing the cost of the project and to provide the said schedule to the committee as soon as possible.

The target was to complete the project by November 2024. When the committee is conducting the work of the expressway project, its environmental aspects, the current status of the implementation of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and Environmental Management Plan (EMP) and how the third party monitoring of the project has been implemented.

The committee has directed the Ministry of Defense and related projects to provide clear information about it within 15 days. Regarding the directives of the meeting held on March 30, 2022, the committee has received the report of the investigation committee formed by the decision of the Ministry of Defense, so the report will be studied and discussed in the next meeting of the committee.

 
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