BANEPA, July 15: Almost two decades have elapsed but the construction of a 64-km road linking the Kavrepalanchowk district headquarters, Dhulikhel, with various VDCs of Kavrepalanchowk district still remains incomplete.

“Ten VDCs are yet to be linked with the district headquarters,” former chairman of Taaldhunga VDC, Shekhar Lama, said, adding, "More than 60,000 people from 10 VDCs are still without road connectivity."

Since 1994, the local authorities have introduced various programs to connect all VDCs with the district headquarters.

At first, road construction from Khyaku village to Madanbas was supported by the Food for Work Program. Later, construction of the 64-km road stretch from Khopasi to Taldhunga was started under the Rural Infrastructure Development Program with a loan from the Asian Development Bank. The project only managed to construct a 22-km long dirt road in 10 years before the construction came to a halt. The project is now being implemented by Kavre District Development Committee (DDC).

“It takes about Rs 6 million to construct one kilometer of road and we have already used about Rs 38 million for the construction.” Sunil Raj Giri, Chief District Engineer at the District Technical Office, said.  “Then there was enough budget to have the road completed but their delay has affected lives of many locals.”

The road completion deadline was 2012. DDC officials blame 'technical failures by the previous contractor' for the delay.

Meanwhile, locals including Lama say the DDC is not taking the road project seriously.

 
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