KATHMANDU, June 20: The construction of the Galchhi-Trishuli-Mailung-Syafrubesi-Rasuwagadhi road connecting to China is progressing in a pathetic condition. After India's embargo, the government advanced the process of building a 82-kilometer road to connect China by road in 2072/73 BS with the goal of completing the construction within two years.
The overall physical progress of the road is only 55 percent by the end of eight years of the contract agreement. Although the government has said that the 82 km long road would be constructed, at present, the construction is being carried out only in a limited length of 65 km road section.
The construction of a 17 Km road section to be carried out by the Chinese government has not been started yet. This shortest road connecting the neighboring country China to the Kathmandu Valley has been stalled for eight years. Galchhi-Trishuli-Mailung-Syafrubesi-Rasuwagadhi Road Project head Dhurva Kumar Shrestha said that the progress of the road section, which was started with high priority after the Indian blockade, is disappointing.
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He said, “The overall physical progress of this road section has been only 55 percent.” According to the Project Office, the financial progress of this road section has reached 54 percent.
“Even though the issue of road mapping and compensation is under consideration in the court, the road construction work has not been able to speed up,” he said, “On the other hand, the government is not able to provide the amount of money for compensation, so the road construction is not able to gather the expected speed.” The construction work of this road project is being affected due to the lack of road mapping, compensation dispute, stay order of the Supreme Court and negligence of the contractor company.
Starting this project in the fiscal year 2072/73 BS, the government allocated a total budget of Rs 15 billion. The target was to complete the project within the current fiscal year 2022/23. But, by the third week of June 2023, only 55 percent of overall physical progress could be made. The government has estimated that Rs 6 billion will be required for compensation of land required by the road. In the month of mid-October of last financial year, Rs 3 billion was spent on compensation and indemnity of this project. Another Rs 3 billion is required for compensation for this project. In the first section, only a 35-kilometer-long section of the road has been blacktopped. In this section, an 11 km long road stretch is yet to be paved using coal tar. Out of 32 bridges to be built under this project, only a dozen bridges have been built so far. About one and a half dozen bridges are yet to be constructed.
The plan was to construct the 82 km road by dividing it into three sections. The first section is 46 km from Galchhi-Trishuli-Mailung, the second section is 19 km from Mailung to Syafrubesi and the third section is 17 km from Syafrubansi to Rasuwagadhi. Project Head Shrestha said that out of 46 km from Galchhi to Mailung, a 35 km long stretch has been paved with asphalt.
“The first section of road has not been able to proceed because of a case registered at the court,” he said. The contract for the construction of the first section of the road was received by Kovax-Tundi-Rasuwa JV at a cost of Rs 3.63 billion. The term of this contractor company is till mid July, 2023, but due to the dispute, it is not yet certain when the construction of this road section will be completed. Project Head Shrestha said that no decision has been made yet on extending the deadline for the construction of this section.
The progress of the 19 km road section from Mailung to Syafrubesi, which falls under the second section, is not remarkable. This road section was awarded a contract of Rs 1.44 billion by Bharatiya Construction but so far the physical progress of this road section has not been at the expected pace. The contractor company has not been in contact since last mid-October. “There is still the problem of the contractor company of this road section not coming in contact frequently,” Project Head Shrestha said, “The necessary process to break the contract of the second road section has been initiated.” The second road section of 19 Km has not been paved with asphalt. The progress of this road section is only 25 percent. There is also a problem in the construction due to the banking offense of the contractor company.
The construction of the third section of this road is supposed to be carried out by the Chinese government, but so far the track of this section has not been opened, so the Chinese party has not been able to come and complete the work. Out of the 17 km road stretch from Syafrubesi to Rasuwagadhi in the third section, the site has been cleared for a 13-km stretch so far. Site clearance is not yet done for a 3 to 4 km stretch. The Project Office has asked the Chinese party to proceed with the site clearance along with the construction of the remaining sections. However, Project Head Shrestha, claimed that the Chinese party would come for the construction of the road within some time. Earlier, this road section was five and half meters wide. Now efforts are being made to make it seven and a half meters wide and blacktop it.
