The Dasharath Stadium in Capital’s Tripureshwor is presently being refurbished as Nepal gears up to host the 13th South Asian Games next year. The country’s only sports stadium of international standard was heavily damaged in the 2015 Gorkha Earthquake.

With the South Asian Games approaching, completing the sports venue in time is a race against time. The postponement of the sporting event by six months—it was originally scheduled to be held in March 2019—has offered little respite to the authorities, namely Youth and Sports Ministry and National Sports Council; neither of them are sure if the stadium will be ready to host the regional sporting extravaganza.

The stadium refurbishment, which commenced in 2013, was marred by slow progress from the onset. Two years later, the Great Earthquake struck, damaging what little works that had been achieved.

The project was started all over again, but sluggishness continued to hamstring its progress.

Snail-paced work has not only left Nepal without a stadium, it has also taken a toll on athletes who depend on the facility to train for  national and international games. The Council says the project would take another eight months to complete—tentatively three months ahead of the South Asian Games. But if Nepal fails to unveil the improved stadium before the regional games, the country could lose the hosting right.