PM Oli threatens to cancel the Narayanghat-Butwal road contract

If the Narayanghat–Butwal road expansion project is not started again by the middle of December, Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli has threatened to terminate the contract.

Following receipt of a document from the elected officials from the districts along the Narayanghat-Butwal road segment, Prime Minister Oli issued the warning. They brought Prime Minister Oli’s attention to the construction project by pointing out carelessness. In a meeting with PM Oli on Thursday, representatives from Rupandehi, Nawalparasi West, and Nawalparasi East brought up the matter.

According to Prime Minister Oli, a decision about the road expansion delay will be made shortly. According to his secretariat, the prime minister stated during the meeting that the contract will have to be terminated if the work does not start by mid-December.

Prime Minister Oli underlined that it would be appropriate to assign the assignment to the contracting company provided they are dependable. “Avoiding the inclination to hold projects without making any progress is crucial,” he added.

“The work that we anticipated being completed quickly and eagerly has not been completed,” Prime Minister Oli stated. For a long time, the people who live there have been suffering from the dust and dirt. Additionally, it has affected economic development initiatives. He went on, “The relevant authorities must take action and treat this matter seriously. I have also given this issue much thought. We are now at a crossroads when decisions are required.

The contract date for this road segment was extended three times by the government: in August 2022, July 2023, and July 2024. Only half of the construction has been finished thus far, despite the third extension’s stated completion date of July 23, 2025.

Representatives from West Nawalparasi’s political parties attended an all-party conference a few days ago, where it was resolved to call the government’s attention to the road expansion’s delays. In light of this, a group of elected officials paid the prime minister a visit at his Baluwatar home on Thursday.

The Chinese corporation in charge of the road expansion has delayed the project, which has caused problems for drivers, passengers, and residents of the roadside settlements, according to the elected representatives from the three districts.

“Due to the carelessness of the involved contracting company, the road is still in a chaotic state, creating significant difficulty to drivers and exposing the local population to a dirty environment,” reads the document that was handed to the prime minister. We demand that the accountable parties get stringent directives to expedite the construction process.

The road expansion is the responsibility of the Chinese contractor, who has come under fire for construction delays. A delegation comprising members of the Provincial Assembly, heads of the relevant district coordination committees, members of the House of Representatives, and municipal mayors from three districts submitted the memorandum before to Prime Minister Oli’s trip to China.

Bhagauti Yadav Rudal, the head of the Nawalparasi West District Coordination Committee, brought the document to Prime Minister Oli, pointing to building work that was done carelessly. “The construction company should be given strict instructions to finish the work as soon as possible,” he said.

The meeting was also attended by Bishnu Prasad Paudel, the deputy prime minister and minister of finance; Devendra Dahal, the minister of physical infrastructure and transport; Balram Adhikari, the minister of land management and cooperatives; and Keshab Sharma, the secretary of the ministry of physical infrastructure.

The building company has been warned repeatedly, but the work has not begun, according to Minister for Physical Infrastructure Dahal. However, he claimed to have been assured that the work would start by the end of December.

On March 22, 2019, an agreement was reached with China State Construction Company to finish the road stretch by August 7, 2022. 52 percent of the job has been finished thus far, and 44 percent of the payment has been made.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) provided financial support for the signing of the agreement to expand the Narayanghat-Butwal road segment. A separate contract was issued for each of the two portions of the 113-kilometer road expansion project.

For a total cost of Rs 16.99 billion, contracts were signed for the 64.42-kilometer eastern segment, known as Gaindakot-Daunne, and the 48.58-kilometer western section, known as Daunne-Butwal. The contracts for the Daunne-Butwal portion costing Rs 7.86 billion and the Gaindakot-Daunne section costing Rs 9.13 billion were given to China State Construction.