Myagdi. The construction of the Darwang-Muna-Dhorpatan road project, which is strategically important in Myagdi, has been slow.

Locals of Gandaki State and federal government have been worried as the project to upgrade the road linking Malika rural municipality’s centre Darwang to Dhaulagiri’s centre Muna by blacktopping and grading them has not gained momentum.

Buddhiman Sherpunja, a leader of Dhaulagiri-3 Muna, said that the construction of the road linking Myagdi to Dhorpatan in east Rukum — which is considered an alternative to the Baglung-Kakri section of the mid-hill highway — has been stalled for the past one month.

“This year, the contractors have reduced the number of workers and equipment to a minimum in the last one month,” he said, adding, “The risk of being stuck has increased as the construction of the project which should have been completed in two years has not gained momentum.” ”

The biggest and highest budget project brought to Myagdi from Gandaki Province so far will blacktop and slope Darwang-Dharapani (seven kilometers) and Machchhim-Muna (four kilometers) of oxphalt technology.

A contract agreement was signed with the construction company on June 25, 2002 for the implementation of the project, which was estimated to cost Rs 670 million excluding administrative expenses. According to the Infrastructure Development Office, the contractor company has made only 10 percent physical progress so far.

Senior Divisional Engineer at the office, Dr Mahendra Baniya, said that the contractors have reduced the pace citing price hike of fuel and construction materials. “The construction of Darwang-Muna-Dhorpatan, which has the highest budget, has not been able to make any progress and the entrepreneurs working in other multi-year projects are not getting paid,” he said. ”

The contract period of the project is 27 months with 50/50 per cent cost sharing between the federal and provincial governments. The federal and provincial governments had allocated a budget of Rs 24 crore in the fiscal year 2081/082 and Rs 232.2 million has been allocated for this project in the current fiscal year 2082/083.

If the project is not completed by the next fiscal year, the federal government will not send the budget and the provincial government will be burdened. The road was completed in 2071 BS. The rural municipality had repaired the unpaved road and made arrangements for the operation of traffic.

For the residents of Mangala Malika of Myagdi, Dhaulagiri Rural Municipality, Dhorpatan of Baglung and East Rukum, it is a short distance of 50 km to travel to Kathmandu. Resham Bahadur Jugjali, a provincial lawmaker elected from Myagdi-1 (B), expressed concern over the delay in the construction of the road of strategic importance and said that the province government has been urged to draw the attention of the province government and facilitate to speed up the work at the local level.

The contract was signed for blacktopping, slope and gravel of the six-kilometer road from Dharapani of Dhaulagiri Rural Municipality-7 to Jhindanda in the fiscal year 2080/81.

Bhim Sapkota, proprietor of the construction company, said that the project is being completed despite the increase in the price of fuel and construction materials. The road linking Mareni via Muna to Taksera of East Rukum via Jaljala-Dhorpatan has been opened. The 18-km stretch from Beni to Talawang has been blacktopped.