Monitoring committee concerns delay in road construction

The district-level monitoring committee has expressed concern over delay in the construction of 15.9-km road from Pokhara metropolis-25, Melbot to Machhapuchhre rural municiplaity-9, Sidding.

The road construction was a part of a programme being operated by the Grant Management and Local Infrastructure under the District Project Implementation Unit of the National Reconstruction Authority (NRA).

A foundation stone for the road construction was laid almost one and a half years ago. The estimated cost for the road was Rs 285.28 million.

Following completion of only 60 percent of the works in the given time, the deadline for the construction was extended for 135 days up to 24 May 2020. The monitoring committee on Wednesday directed the contractor company to complete the road construction in the stated timeline by resolving local problems.

Only 65 percent of the road construction works have been so far completed, shared project chief and division engineer Nawaraj Sharma.

Rishi Kafle, proprietor of the Himtung and Thokar Dragon JV, which was awarded contract for the road construction, clarified that the road construction was delayed due to difficulty in removing the house and huts of local people in course of expansion of road and drainage.