The 21 kilometer four to six lane road that runs through Banke-4 constituency, from where Prime Minister Sushil Koirala was elected to the Constituent Assembly, is being constructed with Rs 960 million financial aid from the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

“It will be difficult to complete the road within the deadline as we are facing problem due to the lack of construction materials,” said Girish Chand, ADB’s consultant engineer, at a programme organised in Nepalgunj on Saturday. The programme organised to discuss ways to save the city from flooding in the rainy season.

“Old drains have been destroyed and there is no any outlet. If the ongoing construction is not completed before monsoon, the city may be flooded,” said Lok Bahadur Sunar, Nepalgunj Municipality official.

Sumit Rauniyar, director at the Pappu Construction, which has been contracted to construct the road, said the construction work will be halted if required materials like sand and gravel are not supplied. He said they have apprised PM Koirala and other concerned government authorities of the matter. “All what ministers and political leaders we have met have said is they are positive about the matter,” he said.

Construction companies said that they are finding it hard to supply required materials as the District Development Committee (DDC) has allowed them to extract only limited quantity of sands and stone.

They said around 8 million cubic feet sand and stone is required to complete the road but the DDC has allowed them to extract only 1.6 million cubic feet a year. The road cannot be completed if they are not allowed to extract required sand and gravel, said Yubraj Chhetri, manager at the Kalika Construction, another company involved in constructing the road.

Concerned authorities like District Forest Office, the DDC and Chief District Officer Jiban Prasad Oli said the government should revise the ban on using equipment to extract sand and gravel and ceiling on the amount such materials to be extracted.

Development projects affected

RUPANDEHI: Development projects, including construction of various roads, in the district have been affected due to the ongoing protest of crusher industries against the provision of proposed government policy to regulate such industries. They have stopped supplying construction materials to around 400 projects such as Belahiya-Butwal road expansion and Yogikuti bridge. As a result, a large amount of budget allocated for such projects is likely to be frozen, authorities said.