Locals have blocked the road and surrounded the team, including the construction contractor, who is responsible for the blacktop work of the Ambuwa-Birdi-Sera-Pauwatar road. Representatives of Amar Construction, who is responsible for the blacktop work of the 16-kilometer road, the Rural Road Network Improvement Project Implementation Unit Pokhara, which is implementing the program, and the Asian Development Bank, which is providing the loan, came to conduct a joint monitoring.

“Why did the work get delayed for so long? Who is responsible for this?”, Deepak Babu Kandel, the outgoing mayor of Palungtar Municipality, asked those who came for the monitoring, “How much trouble was taken to demand the plan, but you delayed it for so long. The people are awake. When you came to monitor, the locals were getting angry that you would dig a hole in the road.”

Dayaram Adhikari, the head of the Rural Road Network Improvement Project Implementation Unit, Pokhara, argued that the office was not working properly due to lack of manpower. “We have only one office head and one engineer. There are five programs to be worked on across Gandaki Province, that is why there is a delay,” said the Adhikari.

However, the head of the donor agency ADB, the program, Hemanta Tiwari, did not accept the argument of the unit and the construction entrepreneur. He said, “Similar programs are operating elsewhere as well. In those programs too, there is only one office head and one engineer, but the work has progressed up to 65 percent. And, construction entrepreneurs should not seek approval for everything at once. The work that has been approved for sections or various structures should have been done in a hurry,” he said, “This has been negligence. If the work is not done in a hurry within the next few days, we will recommend terminating the contract.” Amid the dispute, an agreement has been reached not to extend the deadline and terminate the contract if 15 percent more progress is not made by 15 Feb.

The contract agreement was signed to complete the blacktop work by March 27, but only 30 percent progress has been made so far. Amar VBEPL-ACPL JV Construction Company had signed a contract agreement on 31 March 2023 to blacktop 16 kilometers of the road at a cost of Rs 306.1m