Kavrepalanchok. Kavrepalanchowk-Kavrepalanchowk: The process of upgrading the stalled Dhulikhel-Khawa road section along the Araniko Highway has been resumed. According to the Division Road Office, Bhaktapur, an agreement with a new construction company for the project has been completed recently.

According to the office, the contract was reached with the contractor by calling for the contract again to complete the work in 14 months. Senior Divisional Engineer Suman Yogesh, chief of the office, said that the contract was signed at a cost of Rs 31.56 crore. According to him, in the first phase, the blacktopping will be completed in a wide area by coming April and the remaining works will be completed gradually within the stipulated time. Earlier, the highway has been difficult for the past three years due to delay in the construction work.

Bhaktapur had called for tender for the expansion work with the beginning of the current fiscal year. The office has called for tenders again in July, four and a half months after cancelling the old contract. According to Yogesh, the new construction company is hopeful that the four-kilometer-long road will be completed on time.

The contractors had filed a writ petition at the Patan High Court immediately after the contractor terminated the contract with the Gauri-Parbati Construction Service Company, citing that the road was not completed on time. According to Yogesh, the case was dismissed on July 25 and the process of reopening the contract has been initiated as per the court order. According to him, the company had decided to cancel the contract as it was not found satisfactory and credible despite giving a written explanation at that time.

The highway which also has access to Tatopani of Sindhupalchowk and neighbouring districts including Dolakha and Ramechhap via the Araniko Highway has compelled the passengers to travel due to dust, mud, traffic jam and accidents.

The company had been awarded the contract for the expansion of the road from district headquarters Dhulikhel to Khawa at a cost of Rs 2019 lakh 46 thousand 501 in 22 months i.e. 22 months i.e. Chaitra 19, 2080 BS. So far, only hill cutting work has been done from Dhulikhel Bus Park to the zipline, while drainage and drain wall have been installed in some places. Only the road from the zipline site to Khawa below has been demolished but cutting remains in one kilometer stretch. Although the work of laying the base and sub-base was started in May 2081 from Dhulikhel, it was swept away by repeated rains and made like ruins.

The passengers had to face a lot of trouble even during this rainy season as the road remained in limbo for four years. The contractor company has not completed even 25 percent of the construction work even after 11 months of the deadline. The construction of the road had come to a standstill since last year. The office has terminated the contract with Gauri-Parbati Construction Service on February 29 last year, 11 months after the expiry of the deadline of the agreement.

Meanwhile, the office said that it will take a few months to pave the road after the new contract was awarded despite the assurance of resources. “Now that the process for tendering new contracts has reached the final phase, we have been filling the potholes from time to time for the convenience of vehicles and passengers,” Yogesh said. Hundreds of passengers have been injured in accidents along the road that has been demolished for reconstruction due to lack of timely completion of road construction work. The Dhulikhel-Khawa road section which was dilapidated for some years was being blacktopped by widening it by 12 meters.

The office has planned to lay a base of 20 cm thick cement on gravel for the first time in Nepal and two phases of blacktopping of DBM and Asphal to strengthen the load-bearing capacity of the cargo vehicles plying on the road.