By Kabiraj Ghimire, Hile, Aug. 24: The Bhedetar–Rabi–Ranke road, that will connect Morang, Panchthar and Ilam along the hilltops from Bhedetar in Dhankuta, has yet to be completed even eight years after construction began. The contract for upgrading the road to a blacktopped standard was signed in 2018, but physical progress has so far reached only 71 per cent.
The contract, worth US$32.61 million (Rs. 4.89 billion), was awarded to the Indian contractor F.K. Infra Tech Pvt. Ltd., with loan financing from the Exim Bank of India, for upgrading the road, including blacktopping.
The deadline for the eighth extension is expiring this November. However, there is little indication that the road will be completed even within this extended period. According to the project office, the deadline was extended by six months, until November 3 this year, with the target of blacktopping 50 km of the road.
Project Chief Ashutosh Karn said while Dhankuta section has achieved some progress, the Panchthar and Ilam sections have seen low progress. Of the 42-km section, 22-km has been double-lane blacktopped, while 20-km has received single-lane blacktopping, he said.
Karn said the project had faced problems related to COVID-19, compensation disputes, forests and electricity during the first four years after the contract was signed. Only 12 per cent of the work was completed during that period. In the following four years, however, progress reached 58 per cent. More recently, landslides and soil erosion have also hampered construction, he said.
Engineers say the project has also faced design-related problems because the road runs through mountainous terrain. They said the planned double bituminous surface treatment (DBST) pavement has been difficult to implement because the area is cold and receives frequent rainfall.
The road stretches for around 100 km from Bhedetar in Dhankuta to Ranke in Panchthar. It passes through various settlements in Chaubise and Sangurigadhi rural municipalities of Dhankuta, Kerabari and Letang in Morang, Phalgunanda and Miklajung in Panchthar, and Deumai, Phakphokthum and Mangsebung in Ilam.
Sangurigadhi Rural Municipality Chair Jitendra Rai said the road would not only make travel easier for people in the area but also benefit tourism, so it should be completed as soon as possible.
The then prime minister KP Sharma Oli laid the foundation stone for the blacktopping project at Rabi Bazaar in Panchthar in December 2018. The contract for blacktopping was awarded only after the road had already been in operation for a considerable period.
Residents who had initially been delighted when the long-awaited blacktopping contract was awarded are now becoming increasingly disappointed by the prolonged delay. Yagya Kumari Ruchal, a resident of Ward No. 1 of Chaubise Rural Municipality in Dhankuta, said the road had raised great expectations among local people, but there was still no certainty over when it would finally be completed. She called for the road to be completed as soon as possible.
The Rising Nepal
