The 180-kilometre-long Siddhartha Highway is one of the busiest in the country. It stretches across Gulmi, Arghakhanchi, Palpa, Syangja, Parbat, Kaski, Baglung, Myagdi, and Mustang districts. More than 10,000 vehicles ply this highway on average daily. That number goes up during the festival season. But travellers on this highway aren’t likely to have a smooth ride this season as there has been negligence and irregularities in the repair work on the highway.

The contracted construction company has not done a good job in the repair, upgrade, and maintenance work of the highway, says Tankanath Khanal, head of the District Coordination Committee, Palpa.

A contract agreement was signed between the Road Division, Palpa, and Satyawati Construction Company on August 22, 2023 for the repair, upgrade, and maintenance work on the Palpa section of the highway, which is 60 km long, at the cost of Rs57.5 million. The highway goes through four local units of the district—Tinau Rural Municipality, Tansen Municipality, Rambha Rural Municipality and Bagnaskali Rural Municipality.

Khanal said that according to the project management report of the company, it has finished work in Tinau Rural Municipality, Tansen Municipality, and Rambha Rural Municipality and has done poor work. The potholes repaired by the company on the highway have become much bigger and more dangerous, and the blacktop has been washed away, he said.

“The contract was given to the company in view of the festival season, so travellers would have an easy ride, but the condition of the road has become worse than before,” Khanal said. “Despite repeated monitoring and requests from the Road Division, District Administration Office, and local government to the company to use quality materials and work, they did not listen and worked in a careless manner.”

Baburam Sapkota, head of the road division, said that even though the company submitted the completion report of three local units, it was revealed through the inspection of the division’s technical team that the work done by the company was faulty and didn’t meet the standards set in the contract agreement.

“It was found that in most of the places, the potholes have become even bigger, and in almost all the places, the blacktops have been washed away. The main reason behind the faulty work is the use of less quality materials during the work,” said Sapkota. “In this season, when several travellers go to their homes and relatives’ places using this highway, they are facing hours-long traffic jams and the risk of accidents.”

According to Lal Bahadur Thapa, deputy chairman of Tinau Rural Municipality, in most of the places, the roads on the highway have become one way, resulting in long traffic jams.

“After repeated complaints of local units, locals, officials of the district coordination committee, and division, a legal notice was sent to the company to either redo the work or return the one-third advance money with interest,” said Chief District Officer Bandhu Prasad Bastola. “Currently, the company has agreed to redo all the work.”

Kisan Acharya, head of the construction company, conceded the mistake and said it was caused due to the carelessness of the project manager and workers. “We are redoing the work, and this time we will do quality work,” Acharya said.