The District Administration Office of Nawalparasi East has sought an explanation from the district chief of the Narayanghat-Butwal road widening project as the contractor didn’t begin work even two weeks after extending the deadline by a year.

Chief District Officer Arun Pokharel said engineer Ashish Thapa, chief of the eastern section of the road project, has been asked to clarify why the widening work has been stalled.

The district administration on Friday sought clarification from the project chief after they found no official, except for a guard, present at the project office during their surprise inspection while there was no progress in the work.

“No one was at the office during our surprise inspection,” CDO Pokharel said. “Without the project head and other employees responsible for overseeing the road construction, why would the contractor continue with the work?” According to him, all the staff, except for the guards, had gone to Kathmandu.

The eastern project office oversees the road widening works on the Daunne-Gaindakot stretch of the highway, which is being expanded by a Chinese contractor.

“The widening work has come to a standstill. I have sought an explanation from the project head regarding the delay in the widening work,” said Pokharel.

Travelling on the highway has become quite difficult due to large potholes on the road. The situation is particularly dire in the road sections within Devchuli Municipality, Gaindakot Municipality, Madhyabindu Municipality, and Binayi Triveni Rural Municipality.

In February 2019, the Department of Roads signed an agreement with the China State Construction Engineering Corporation to implement the road project. As per the project agreement, the existing two-lane road has to be widened to six lanes in market areas, four lanes in forest areas and three lanes in the Daunne hill section. The contractor had divided the Narayanghat-Butwal road into two sections—48 km Daunne-Gaindakot section and 66 km Daunne-Butwal section. The road widening work was initiated with Rs17 billion loan assistance from the Asian Development Bank.

The initial deadline for the widening work was August 17, 2022. After the construction was not completed on time, the deadline was extended to July 23. Two weeks ago, the deadline was further extended by another year due to continued delays in the work. Only 56 percent of the work has been completed in the past six years, according to officials.

The contractor, China State Construction Engineering Corporation, abruptly halted the work, citing the monsoon. They have proposed to resume work on October 31.

The Butwal-Narayanghat road is one of the busiest stretches of the East-West Highway. It is a major road linking Lumbini, Karnali, and Sudurpaschim provinces to the national capital and other parts of the country. According to the district traffic police office, over 10,000 vehicles use the road section daily.