KATHMANDU, Nov 24: The Asian Development Bank (ADB) project directorate has warned the contractor company of the Narayanghat-Butwal road section to terminate the contract if the overall physical progress of 50 percent is not achieved by December 2023.

The China State Construction Engineering Company, which has been entrusted with the responsibility of road construction, has been repeatedly hesitating in road construction.

Despite repeated warnings from the project directorate and the Department of Roads about potential contract termination, the contract has not been terminated yet. According to the initial contract agreement, the construction of this road section was to be completed by August 7, 2022, but as the construction of the road could not be completed within that period, the deadline was extended for a second time until Shrawan (mid-July to mid-August), 2024. According to the Asian Development Bank (ADB), which is overseeing the project, the overall physical progress of the road in this section has barely reached 40 percent.

Chuda Raj Dhakal, the project directorate of the ADB, expressed dissatisfaction with the contractor's performance, stating that the expected speed and progress were not achieved.

Passengers traveling from this road section are experiencing inconvenience due to the slow progress.

Project directorate Dhakal claimed that the road construction work could not be accelerated also because the contractor company did not have enough cash flow. The project directorate has been repeatedly urging the contractor company to advance the work of the project by sending missions twice in the last time.

Dhakal said, “There is a common trend among Chinese companies to seek construction materials at a very low cost and make excuses when unable to obtain them inexpensively.”

In 2075, the government took a loan from the ADB and started the work for the upgrade of the Narayanghat-Butwal road section.

Under this road section, the work of upgrading 113 km road in the Narayanghat- Butwal road section is underway.

The project aims to upgrade 113 km of the Narayanghat-Butwal road section, with the eastern section covering 64.425 km and the western section 48.535 km. Physical progress stands at 41.75 percent for the eastern section and 37 percent for the western section. The project's cost was initially Rs 16.99 billion but has been raised to Rs 17.02 billion due to variations.

Project Director Dhakal said that the pressure has been increasing on the contractor as there has been no progress despite repeated deadlines.

"So far, the deadline has been extended twice, but the contractor company has not been able to do the work as expected."

He said that there was a problem when the local level did not facilitate the excavation of construction materials. "There is a severe shortage of construction materials as the local level of the area under road construction is not facilitating the excavation of construction materials," he said. “We have been collaborating with the local authorities to ensure an uninterrupted supply of construction materials, but various administrative issues have created hurdles in the process.”

Project Director Dhakal claimed that if the contractor company wants, about 70 percent of the construction work can be done by the end of the current fiscal year.

"If the construction company is to work honestly, it seems that around 70 percent physical progress should be made by the end of the current year," he said. "If the construction company works honestly, we expect to achieve approximately 70 percent physical progress within the current project duration," he stated. "Besides the challenging terrain, we have repeatedly requested to expedite the construction of the two-lane road beyond the Daunne area."

 
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