Project officials blamed this situation for frequent change of project chief, dispute with locals and the government"s delay in releasing the budget. The government in this fiscal year had allocated Rs 20 million for the 417km road project. [break]
“The national pride project failed to gain momentum because of government"s negligence,” said a project official, adding, “Rs 20 million allocated for the project in the previous fiscal year had also lapsed.”Project officials claimed that the budget allocated for project is lapsing every year as the road division does not release the budget in time.
Of total Rs 23 million released in the beginning of the current fiscal year, around Rs 20 million was provided to Nepal Army to open the track along the Rudrabeni section of the corridor. The government in its third installment released only Rs 55 million in March, said Sujan Adhikari, chief of the project.
“Survey along the Jaidi and Chistima section of the corridor is yet to be done as we did not have Rs 40 million to pay to the contractor,” he said. He also said that of the Rs 55 million released by the government in March, Rs 35 million would be spent while the remaining Rs 20 million would lapse.
The corridor would link 231 VDC in 10 districts, including Mustang, Myagdi, Baglung, Parbat, Gulmi, Syangja, Palpa, Tanahu and Nawalparasi.
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