Though initiated 32 years ago, the 59 kilometre Daiji-Jogbudha-Budar road has not yet been completed, thanks to extreme negligence of the government authorities and construction companies.
Though initiated 32 years ago, the 59 kilometre Daiji-Jogbudha-Budar road has not yet been completed, thanks to extreme negligence of the government authorities and construction companies.
Locals said they cannot use the single track road during the summer season as it still remains a dirt track at most sections despite the fact that the government and donor agencies have spent millions of rupees in its construction.
The 32 kilometre Budar (Doti)-Jogbudha (Dadeldhura) section of the road is constructed along the Chure foothills and crosses around 30 streams on the way while the 27 kilometre Daiji (Kanchanpur)-Jogbudha section also crosses around a dozen of rivulets.
Though buses started plying on the Daiji-Jogbudha section in the winter season from last year, the road remains closed during the summer months. Baburam Sharma of the Mahakali Bus Entrepreneurs’ Committee said buses hardly operate in the single route road as it is too narrow and often obstructed by landslides on the Chure hills.
Dal Bahdur Saud of Jogbudha said the road cannot be used throughout the year as the government provides too little budget to upgrade it every year.
The upgradation of the Budar-Jogbudha section is under way for the past four years with the loan amount of Rs 110 million from the Asian Development Bank (ADB). However, the condition of the road has not improved at all due to financial irregularities. Krishnadev Joshi, information officer at the Dadeldhura District Development Committee, said they found irregularities in using the loan amount allocated for the road project.
Officials at the District Technical Office said efforts to upgrade the road have been ineffective as rivulets along the way are 50 to 200 metres wide and they continue to widen.
“Maurikhola, which was 50 metres wide last year, has widened to 112 metres this year,” Hari Paneru of the office said, adding that the road cannot be upgraded without initiating effective measures to control the rivers.
Though there is not exact data on budge allocated to the road, officials at the Kulpate-based Road Division Office said around Rs 1 billion, including the government’s contribution of around Rs 500 million, has been spent in the past 32 years.
Besides the government and the ADB, half a dozen agencies, including World Food Programme and the German Agency for Technical Cooperation, have also funded in the road project.
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