Chitwan, February 16
Contractors working on the Narayangadh-Muglin Highway upgrade project, which was supposed to be completed last year, have demanded more time to wrap up the construction work.
Work on widening the highway, one of the key components of Nepal’s highway network began in 2015. The project was expected to be completed in 2017. However, following the earthquake and the Indian blockade, the deadline for the work was extended for 10 months. Now, the companies are saying that frequent landslides, election-related traffic and movement of vehicles during the festivals are impacting their work and it cannot be completed on time.
The road has been divided into three sections and the contract for constructing each section was awarded to a different company. The deadline for one of the sections of the project ended on Wednesday while that for remaining two sections is ending on February 20. According to officials, 25 percent of the work still remains to be done.
Supreme-Rautaha JV, which was awarded the contract for working on the 12.1 kilometre stretch from Simlatar to Muglin, has asked authorities to extend the deadline by 158 days. Likewise, Hill-Lama JV has sought 336 more days to complete its 10.7-kilometre road, while BLA-Shrestha JV has asked for 684 additional days to finish is 10.4 kilometres.
The project’s consultant engineer Pushkar Regmi said a proposal has been prepared to recommend an extension to the deadline. The companies’ deadlines are to be extended by around 80-90 days. The recommendation concerning the extension has been sent to the Department of Roads for approval, said Chief of the Narayangadh-Muglin road project Chandra Narayan Yadav.
RSS
