The Postal Highway Directorate will extend the deadline for the completion  of Kankai bridge in Jhapa  for the last time, said Bijay Kumar Mahato, chief of the project office. A joint venture of Pappu Construction and Mahadev-Khimti JV had received the contract of Kankai bridge construction in mid-May 2011 for Rs349.9 million. The company had agreed to complete the work within four years.  

However, the bridge, which was supposed to complete three years ago, has seen only 40 percent work in the last seven years. Although the Postal Highway Directorate had extended the deadline  of the project by two years,  the project did not gain momentum.

The Mahadev-Khimti JV has taken the responsibility of the construction after the government blacklisted Pappu Construction for leaving several projects in disarray, violating the terms of contract and carrying out inferior works.

According to the project office, Pappu had already received 35 percent of the total contract amount. The office has confiscated Rs 30 million from the bank that was pro-vided to the company in advance.

“Pappu cannot complete the construction of the bridge so we are looking for an alterna-tive,” said Mahato. 

“The Mahadev-Khimti JV has assured us to start  the construction from  mid-December.”