Nawalparasi. The government has extended the deadline of narayanghat-Butwal road project along the East-West Highway by one year. The deadline for the road has been extended till July 1, 2083 BS after only 70 percent of the road construction was completed at the end of the deadline extended for the third time.

Information Officer of Narayanghat-Butwal Road Project Eastern Section Engineer Shiva Khanal said that the deadline of the project has been extended for the fourth time. “The deadline extended for the fourth time is the last one,” he said, adding, “The deadline has been extended as the construction company has committed to complete the road construction during this period.” Stating that the blacktopping work has been completed in all the places except Daunne in the eastern section so far, he said the remaining works would be completed within a year.

“In the recent past, the construction company has accelerated the expansion of the road,” he said, adding, “Now the human resources are focused on slopeing the daunne road and constructing the remaining two bridges.” According to Khanal, around 65 kilometers of four-lane roads, dividers in the middle of the road and 17.5 kilometers of service lanes of the eastern section will be completed in the extended time.

China State Construction Engineering Corporation Limited, a Chinese construction company responsible for the expansion of the road, said it was difficult to complete all the works within the extended time. Rakesh Jha, contract co-manager of the corporation, said that the government had extended the deadline by only one year even though they had sought an extension of 18 months to complete the work.

“It is difficult to complete the road work in the extended time,” he said, adding, “We try to complete the work within the stipulated time, but the work of constructing footpaths and beautifying the roads may be left while working as per the plan.” ’

He said that the slope work is going on in the daunne section of the road. “Four kilometers of road has to be sloped in daunne area of the eastern section,” he said, adding, “So far we have sloped 900 meters of six and a half meters wide and the rest of the slope is also going on.” He said that the bridge is being constructed on Arunkhola and Giruwari rivulet along the slope of Daunne area.

Stating that six slaps should be installed on the bridge of Giruwari rivulet for slope, he said that two have been completed and the remaining four are in the construction stage. Out of the 22 culverts to be constructed in Daunne area, work on three and 17.4 kilometers service lane of six meters width on both sides of the road is pending, he said.

About 100 meters of road connecting Gaidakot to narayani river bridge is yet to be blacktopped. The work of filling the soil by placing gabin on the side of the road has been completed. “Now sub-base, base course can be completed in the remaining areas of Gaindakot and we will connect narayani bridge with blacktopping,” he said. ’

Stating that the road is being expanded with 300 workers, he said that the work would be carried out at a fast pace as there was no obstacle in the expansion of the road. “We demand an extension of six months based on the progress of the road expansion works if the road expansion work is not completed within the stipulated time,” he said. ’

The construction company had signed an agreement with the Government of Nepal seven years ago to complete the road expansion within 42 months. Out of the total 114 kilometers of roads, 65 kilometers of the eastern section (Gaindakot-Daunne) has a cost of Rs. 9.13 billion and the western section -Daunnebutwal has a cost of Rs. 7.86 billion.