Three years are about to complete despite the deadline of two years given to finish the Narayangadh-Mulgin road widening project, contractors have again demanded 1,049 more days to complete it.
Contractors have sought 1,049 additional days to complete project works. Before this, 10 months in three phases were extended for the project as contractors failed to finish it within the deadline.
The road has been divided into three sections and the contract for constructing each section has been given to different companies.
The deadline for the third section of project ended Wednesday while the deadline for remaining two sections is ending on coming February 20. But, so far work progress is just 74 percent.
According to project's consultant company's assistant residential engineer Gyanendra Ghimire, the Supreme-Rautaha JV Company having the contract for working on the 12.1 kilometers third section stretching from Simlata to Muglin has requested for additional 158 days to complete works. Earlier, the company was given extra 10 months.
Earthquake, adverse weather, tarai-Madhesh shutdown, fuel crisis, landslides, traffic jam, election and festivals have been cited as the reasons causing delay in the implementation of the project.
Likewise, the contractor Hill-Lama JV has sought additional 336 days to complete the 10.7-km road, while the BLA-Shrestha JV extra 684 days to finish 10.4-km track.
Residential engineer for the project consultant company Pushkar Regmi said a proposal has been made recommending added 99 days out of 1,049 days sought under the third section, 89 days of 336 demanded under the second section, and 85 days out of 684 sought under the first section. Under the first part, the recommended additional deadline for the project is 10 May, 2018, while 20 May, 2018 under the second section. Likewise, the project under the third party is to be completed by 30 May, 2018.
The recommendation concerning the extension of additional deadline has been sent to the Department of Roads for approval, said Chief of the Narayangadh-Muglin road project Chandra Narayan Yadav.
The first project deadline was 24 April, 2015. However, the project witnessed extension of the project deadline many times in between, thanks to what the contractors claimed various reasons including the earthquake of April 2015, the border blockade and flooding.
