As the construction works along the Narayanghat-Butwal road section of the East West Highway remained intolerably slow, the government has warned the contractor of contract termination. Issuing a notice on Sunday, the South Asia Sub-Regional Economic Cooperation Road Connectivity Project of the Department of Roads said that the contract agreement would be terminated if the existing way of working of the contractor was not improved.

The 114 kilometres of road stretch was separated in two sections while awarding the contract through a global bidding process. The China State Construction Engineering Corporation Limited had won the tender bidding of both section for pledging to construct the road section in the minimum base rate. It is said that several complaints were received on the part of the construction company regarding the dillydallying of the project.

The project was expected to complete in August 7, 2022. However, the construction company completed just 18 per cent of the total task in the final deadline. Against this backdrop, the Department of Roads has warned to construction company to mend its ways and ensure reforms in a month otherwise get ready to face contract termination. The Department has further said that the travelers and vehicles have faced several issues including difficulties in travel, air pollution and others due to carelessness of the construction company.

The community people in the affected area have also suffered while road accidents have soared. As the contract agreement ended on August 7, the government has extended the deadline for one more year at the request of the construction company but the construction works at present have halted, Chief Engineer of Narayanghat-Butwal Road Project (Eastern Section) Ramesh Kumar Dristi said. The project being developed with nearly Rs 17 billion in loan assistance from the Asian Development Bank.