KATHMANDU: It has been eight years since the construction of a concrete bridge over the Doda River located in Laljhadi Rural Municipality-4 of Kanchanpur began. The contract for the bridge construction was awarded in December 2015, for Rs 247.3 million. Despite multiple deadline extensions, the work remains incomplete, causing suffering for the people in the vicinity who rely on the bridge for their day-to-day activities.
Another stalled project is the construction of a 49 km road from Rani in Morang to Dharan in Sunsari. Although the contract for constructing this six-lane road has already been awarded, the work has not been completed yet.
The cases in Kanchanpur and Morang are just two examples highlighting the issues with road and bridge construction across the country. The 60th report of the Auditor General includes numerous such cases. The report states that 1,170 bridges under the Department of Roads have been constructed without adhering to the feasibility study. The report concludes that although DoR conducts feasibility studies before implementing projects, it is often discarded during construction.
“There is a need for thorough feasibility studies and consideration of factors such as demand, needs, strategic importance, social and comparative benefits, and returns for the people during the construction of roads and bridges,” the Office of the Auditor General has suggested in its annual report.
While the government agencies argue that the construction is of high quality, the OAG report states otherwise.
The Auditor General’s report reveals that Rs 936 million has been spent to conduct feasibility studies of these bridges. While the government agencies implementing these projects argue that the construction is of high quality, the OAG report states otherwise.
The recent Economic Survey published by the government emphasizes the expansion of a quality road network and bridges, stating that such physical infrastructure will contribute positively to the prosperity of the country and the qualitative development of public services.
According to the economic survey, the federal government has constructed 34,100 kilometers of roads by mid-February. Of them, 17,480 km are asphalt roads, 7,956 km are gravel roads, and 8,664 km are unpaved roads. Notably, 51.3% of the total roads under the federal government are blacktopped, with 23.3% being gravel roads and 25.4% unpaved roads.
Government data also indicates that approximately 104 kilometers of roads have been added under the federal government in the first eight months of the current fiscal year. The total length of roads under the federal government stood at 33,996 km in mid-June last year.
Lowest bridge and road construction
The current fiscal year has witnessed the lowest number of road and bridge constructions in the past five years. Only 104 km of roads and 75 bridges have been constructed by the government in the current financial year.
Contrasting this, in the fiscal year 2020/21, the government constructed 472 km of roads, which marks the highest number of roads built in a single year since 2016/17. Similarly, in the previous fiscal year 2021/22, the highest number of bridges in five years were constructed, totaling 282. However, only 75 bridges have been built in the eight months of the current fiscal year.
1,200 km local roads built
Additionally, under the provincial and local governments, 1,203 kilometers of roads have been constructed in the first eight months of the current financial year. With this, the total length of local roads has now reached 66,057 km.
Of the local roads, 72% remain unpaved, while only 7% have been paved as of February. The remaining 21% are gravel roads.
