Kamala Dhalkebar Pathlaiya road expansion
The expansion of the Kamala to Dhalkebar to Pathlaiya section of the East West Mahendra Highway is running far behind schedule, with only about 30 percent of the work finished while 68 percent of the contract time has already passed, Gorkhapatra reports from Sarlahi. The 74.75 kilometre stretch, from the Kamala bridge in Dhanusha to the Bagmati bridge in Sarlahi, is a national pride project that is widening the highway to six lanes in market areas and four lanes elsewhere. Contracts for the work were awarded in three sections three years ago.
The first section, 22 kilometres from the Kamala bridge to Bardahari, is being built by EKK Infrastructure Limited of India. The second section, 29 kilometres from Bardahari to Phuljor in Sarlahi, and the third section, 23 kilometres from Phuljor to the Bagmati bridge, are both held by a Chinese construction company in joint venture with Nepal’s Rasuwa Construction. Reported physical progress differs sharply by district: 30 percent in the Dhanusha section, 28 percent in Mahottari and 36 percent in Sarlahi.
Rajesh Kumar Das, the project chief and senior divisional engineer of the Kamala Dhalkebar Pathlaiya road project, said the expansion work is running more than 30 percent behind schedule. At the current pace, he said, the widening cannot be finished within the remaining contract period, and a time extension looks unavoidable. Das added that bridges and culverts along the corridor have been built, so progress is visible in those structures, but the road work itself is close to a standstill.
Utility shifting is one of the bottlenecks. The Nepal Electricity Authority has to relocate 3,000 electricity poles along the corridor, and only about 1,500 have been moved so far. The project office says the unshifted poles are also holding up the widening in several stretches, forcing traffic through half finished, dusty bazaar sections such as Lalbandi in Sarlahi.
The slow pace drew a parliamentary inspection on Thursday. Ashish Gajurel, chair of the Infrastructure Development Committee of the House of Representatives, said the highway had advanced by only about three percent between his visit in late Shrawan and his return in late Ashoj. He expressed sorrow that the expansion has not gained speed even after an action plan with price adjustment, prepared alongside planned amendments to the public procurement and banking laws, was introduced to keep the work problem free. Rajkishor Mahato, a member of parliament who joined the inspection, said coordination, including a visit to the Nepal Electricity Authority, is under way to get the poles shifted so that no problem arises in the expansion work.
For their part, the contractors blame the delay on a lack of soil for filling, expensive construction materials, a shortage of workers, delays in felling trees along the alignment, and electricity poles not being shifted on time. With more than two thirds of the time gone and less than a third of the work done, the project office now accepts that the four laning of one of the busiest sections of the Mahendra Highway will not finish on its original schedule.
The Kamala Dhalkebar Pathlaiya road expansion will stay in the spotlight as the remaining contract time runs out and pressure builds to finish the widening.